Explosion
by TheRandomPhangirl
Summary: Never mess with a portal to a world unseen. Normally turning someone into a ghost is a crime, but not for this nuclear family. Sometimes literally nuclear. You never know what's going on in that lab. (No Phantom Planet)(On Hiatus, Unlikely To Be Updated Soon)
1. Power Outage

"Ok, Jack. Goggles!" The person in question shot a thumbs up the other's way before pulling his goggles down as requested."All set Maddie!"Jack called to his wife, grin stretching from ear to ear. Maddie gave him a single thumbs up before turning back to their project. It was sitting on the table in front of her, and she was anxious to activate it. Reaching for the cords lying on the table, Maddie took in a deep breath, heart pounding in her ears. She aligned the plugs before turning to Jack again.

They had finally fixed their first portal, though upon further inspection they discovered that what caused the error was some kind of soda getting into the device. The remains of the liquid had lingered in a black coating of burnt sugar after the rest must've evaporated away in the previous explosion.

"Proto-portal 2.0 is a go!" Jack rhymed. Judging by his expression, he knew exactly what he just did, and -knowing him- he'd probably been waiting for a chance to say that for at least a week. At least that was about how long they'd been working on it. Maddie smiled nervously, she just hoped that this one didn't cause anyone to be hospitalized or injured, like the last two portals they made. She turned her gaze back to the hexagon before smiling to herself. To think, this small machine had the capability to puncture a hole in the very fabric of the universes. These including Earth, dubbed the 'Real World,' and the Ghost Zone. Taking a moment to refocus first, Maddie plugged the cords into each other.

A beat of silence was the response. Maddie held her breath, hoping. Jack's heart sank. He was about to frown when an explosion ignited out from the invention. The house shook in its foundations, and a bang echoed out that would've deafened the entire block if not for the precious soundproofing. The explosion was kept in by the metal confines of the walls, but it screwed with the electricity, thus causing the power on the entire east side of town to flicker out. Something had changed, for better or worse.

A loud bell rang over the intercom and Danny let out a sigh of relief. Fighting the crowd to set his half-finished test on the teacher's desk, he darted out of the room. He breathed in the half-freedom as he finally got out of the classroom. In the room, it was like the teacher had the air conditioning on instead of the heater. He could barely imagine what the other students felt, though he hadn't failed to notice the slightly scrunched look on Sam's face as he sat down next to her. Speaking of Sam;

"Hey," She greeted, falling into step beside him. It was just second nature at this point. Soon Tucker would join and it would be just as it had been since elementary.

"Hey." They walked in comfortable silence for a moment, at least until they reached Danny's locker. He sat his book bag on the floor, careful not to drop it on his locker neighbour's foot.

"So," He started, turning the knob while barely thinking of the numbers in his head as he spun the dial. '14,-spin spin- 32,-spin- 6.' Those numbers were ingrained now, but in a year he'd be hard pressed to remember even one of them. Tucker, meanwhile, probably remembered his first locker combo from sixth grade.

"It was horrible in there, right? I mean, I think Mrs Trein had the A.C. on," Danny slid his finger under the latch and the locker popped right open. Reluctantly, but it opened. He quickly shoved a hand into the mess to keep everything from scattering onto the floor. Keeping one hand in place, Danny managed to get out his social studies book from the mess. One down, two more to go.

"Yeah, though sitting next to you made it worse," Sam said. Danny raised an eyebrow at her and almost allowed his math textbook to slide out of his grasp. He caught it before it could completely escape.

"And how is that?" Danny shot her a sideways look of confusion as he grabbed his science textbook. They never really used it, but you never knew when a teacher might make it essential to have in class one day out of the blue. As his Mom always said, better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it. The books dropped to the ground in front of him with a thud, piling on top of each other.

"Because you're a human air conditioner." Wait, what? Sam smirked and turned away, headed down the hall towards her own locker. Danny grabbed his books for his afternoon classes, shoved them into his bookbag haphazardly and started off after her while dodging through the crowds that were trying to pull him towards the cafeteria.

"Seriously, Sam!" He called out. What did she even mean by 'human air conditioner?' What _could_ it mean? He spotted an opening and ducked between two startled juniors. He was so short for a freshman that it was doubtful they'd even seen his mop of black hair before he was suddenly in front of them. The move had him flattening himself against the wall in an effort not to be dragged away by the crowd, almost all of whom towered over him. Why couldn't he have been one of those superheroes that wakes up super ripped after their accident? Sliding past the flow of bodies and getting out of the way, Danny found himself by Sam's locker.

"What do you mean I'm a human air conditioner?" He huffed whilst leaning against the lockers. It took a moment for him to catch his breath, he was much more accustomed to exhaustion from flying than from human physical activities. Sam took her time in loading her books into her spider bookbag before caring to deign a curious Danny with an answer.

"You literally radiate cold air," Sam explained. At that moment Tucker walked up. His PDA was safely 'tuck'ed under his arm, completing the nerd look that he tried oh-so-hard to get away from when he went through his Sam-induced goth phase.

"Who does what?" He questioned. His boots made a horrible squeaking on the tile, as he had just walked in front of the drinking fountains. It was a Paulina-sized pool in front of them, though you could actually get your feet wet in this one. Even Sam winced at the odd squeak. But it was promptly forgotten in exchange for conversation. Tucker's red backpack was already on his back, and -judging by the strained way he walked- it was already filled with his books.

"Sam says I'm a human air conditioner." Danny crossed his arms and pouted. Said person only chuckled at the face.

"Technically he's a _half_ -human air conditioner." Tucker corrected, earning him a 'scary eyes' glare. Both of these elicited a snort of laughter from our resident goth. Tucker sent a smile her way before continuing.

"In all seriousness, she kinda has a point," Sam closed her locker and the trio suspended their conversation as they joined the dwindling crowd of people making their way to the cafeteria. They met up again at their usual table -dubbed the 'loser trio' table- before starting up their conversation again.

"What d'you mean she had a point?" Danny reached into his bag and pulled out a lunch box. Sam and Tuck followed suit. Danny's was a plain blue fabric with sharpied-on white dots, his lunch box from elementary. The handle was a grey strip of the stuff used for backpack straps. Tucker's was a metal cube-ish shape with some vague Star Trek symbol. It looked a bit like a half-erased triangle. On the opposite side was an image of the popular ship from Star Trek. Sam's was a mini version of her backpack, though there were fewer pockets and it was insulated like a normal lunchbox.

"I dunno, man. Whenever you're near it makes the air a few degrees colder. Kinda like when a ghost attacks." Did it really get colder? Danny never noticed. Tucker took a bite into his ham sandwich and Sam made a gagging sound.

"Don' nof i' fil you fry if," Tuck added in response, his mouth full. Bits of ham peeked over his lips, threatening to spill out onto the table. Even Danny found it disgusting, and a bit unappetizing.

"Yeah, no." Sam sassed and rolled her eyes. She pulled out a Tupperware container with a salad and some kind of dressing in a smaller container, which she dumped onto the leafy-green and crouton combo.

"Anyway Danny, maybe it's because of your..." She paused, surveying the room for anyone listening in, and -finding no one- continued. Really, they tried their best not to draw attention. If only for privacy in conversations such as these.

"Icy abilities." She crypted. Danny toyed with the idea for a moment, taking a bite of his PBJ. He had that, along with a drink, bag of chips, and a few store-bought cookies. Or at least he hoped they were. No one in his family could cook. Though the turkey had been pretty good until it came to life. Even if they were homemade, it was probably better for him than the stuff they served at school. He'd stopped trusting school lunches after the Lunch Lady's attack last week. There were some things you just can't unsee.

Going back to his unintended icy exposition, the reasoning seemed sane. After all, he could literally touch something at any moment and cause ice to form on it. Though that led him to a brief curiosity. Was he able to create his ice in space? On Earth it made sense, he was just freezing the air and water vapour in it. But in space, there was nothing to freeze. A hand waving in front of his face shook him out of his scientific self-rant.

"You okay there, bud? You went all spacey on us. Pun intended." Tucker had a goofy grin on his face as he stood and waved a hand in front of Danny's face. Danny shook his head slightly to get back into the conversation.

"Yeah, I'm fine," As Danny's eyes focused, Tuck drew his hand back and started picking at the apple in his lunch. Honestly, why did his Mom keep trying to get him to eat fruits or veggies? The only time he broke his 14-year streak was to eat blood blossoms. And even then he was halfway to getting sick from the sudden vegetables.

"I was just wondering if I could make ice in space." He shrugged and popped the tab on the soda in his lunch. It was a Pepsi, his favourite. Jazz really was the best big sister one could ever have. He'd talked about starting to pack his lunch, and Jazz offered to make it for him while she made her own for the next day. The next night he went down to the kitchen to make his lunch, but Jazz had already made him one and set it on the counter in his lunch box. It'd just continued from there. He made sure to thank her for each lunch she made.

"You probably could," Sam said.

"I mean, you can create a form a plasma, as shown in your blasts, so while I don't think you could just create your ice like that," She snapped her fingers for emphasis.

"You would probably be able to freeze your blasts." She shrugged and took a bite of her banana.

"You have a point. How was this even brought up?" Tucker remarked and looked up from his still-pristine apple.

"My parents are scientists, I was raised to ask questions no one else thinks of." Danny shrugged. It was true, after all.

"Even if they are kinda oblivious," Danny added to himself with a chuckle.

"Can't argue with you there," Tucker agreed.

"Yeah, they wouldn't know it if a full-on ghost lived under their roof." Sam chucked. Danny shot her a 'say another word and I _keel you_ ' glare. With a toned-fown scary eyes to boot.

Suddenly the flourescent humming that filled the air blinked out. The room went dark. They were questioning glances all around the room until an explosion sounded somewhere off in the distance. You'd think anarchy would ensue soon after, but people stayed calm for the most part. They stayed in their seats, using their phones and the such as flashlights set in the middle of their tables, and continued talking. Even though their subjects had changed to asking if anyone else knew what had caused the explosion. No one did, of course. A few rose from their seats and darted to the windows. It was the dead of winter and the early sunset, coupled with the thick layer of clouds, made it almost look like night time outside. Our trio overheard someone mention smoke near Fenton Works."Why do I feel like this is somehow my fault?" Danny asked.

"Knowing you, it probably is."

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2-2-19

Just fixed some missed spelling errors and the such. Added a sentence or two in places where it was lacking.


	2. Stolen Pepsi

Danny rolled his eyes and rose from his seat, careful to step over his bag that had been dropped haphazardly onto the tile floor. One time he'd stubbed his toe on his bag, and it had hurt. Possibly even more than whenever he got thrown into a concrete wall. Tucker, of course, still hadn't let him live it down and still brought it up when the conversation allowed.

"Mind if I drink the rest of that while you're gone?" Tucker asked and pointed at Danny's Pepsi. Danny gave him a non committal wave -which Tucker took as a yes- and started to make his way towards the double doors that led to the hall. He fully intended to go to the bathroom, go ghost, and go see just who had decided to get their butt kicked by him today by showing up in his town. But he was stopped in his tracks as Mr. Faulk -the science teacher- came almost barreling through the door, clipboard in hand.

"Get back to your seat." The man snapped at Danny, who groaned inwardly before rejoining Sam and Tucker. That teacher hated him, and for no reason. Well, there was this one time during their anatomy unit, but that's a story for another day. One of Danny's fellow teens at the table was in the middle of chugging his Pepsi as he sat down.

"You couldn't even wait until I was out of the room?" Danny questioned, resting his head in his hand with his elbow on the table. His face would get stuck like this if he kept glaring at people.

"You usually don't come back," Tucker set the can down and let out a belch, to which Sam said;

"Excuse you." She wasn't watching him. Instead, she was watching Mr. Faulk -whose name had many, _many_ puns amongst the students- close the doors and clear his throat, readying himself to speak. Danny stopped his glaring at the techno-geek and actually paid attention to a teacher for a chance. Not that he didn't at least try to usually, but there's only so much you can do after being hunted at four in the morning and needing to be in class at seven thirty. DId Valerie ever sleep? No wonder she had been so set on getting a good grade when Sulker had pushed them together. At least this time Danny had motivation to pay attention. He -along with almost every other student present- was just waiting to hear two little words come out of Mr. Faulk's mouth: 'School closed.' But he didn't speak yet.

"Pay attention," Sam poked them both in the arm and pointed to the teacher. Whom cleared his throat and drew many eyes to himself.

"Excuse me, everyone!" The teacher commanded attention, to which most gave him. The A-Listers couldn't have cared less.

"As you've no doubt noticed, the power is out." A murmur of things such as 'Captain obvious,' and 'No dip, Sherlock.' -though with harsher language- was the students' reply.

"Until the situation has been remedied, I ask that everyone behaves, and to add, classes will not be stopped. You know it's not the first time the power has gone out." That arose not-so-quiet groans from the student body. He wasn't wrong, of course. Though Danny had never really been at school other times that the power had gone out. He'd only ever seen the aftermath.

The mildly overweight teacher just barely managed to dodge the less than desirable food items that were sent his way as he scrambled to get out of the room and down the hall. A look of fury on his face all the while. Danny was just glad he hadn't said anything during the exchange, he couldn't imagine how many people were getting detentions. He turned his gaze from the swinging cafeteria doors and back to his friends. Tucker was fiddling with his PDA, and Sam was grabbing a 'Fenton Ghost Light' from her bag. She'd asked for it because it was black with neon green stripes, like her skirt. She flipped the switch and set it up in the middle of the table, pointing towards the ceiling.

"Thanks, Sam," Danny said as he searched his lunch bag for his chips. The light reflected off of the ceiling, illuminating the area around the trio.

"You're welcome." Sam picked up her banana and peeled it. Tucker finally looked up from his PDA.

"Guys, you might wanna see this." Tucker was visibly anxious, his forehead was creased and he sure wasn't smiling. The techno-geek turned the screen around and practically shoved it into Sam and Danny's faces respectively. Neither did much more than roll their eyes at the image. It was showing a clip from the news, in the form of a helicopter flying over Fenton Works. Smoke rose from the building in great plumes, but there was no fire to be seen.

"Probably just another invention explosion." Danny shrugged and tossed a chip into his mouth. The shiny bag crinkled in his hands as he crumpled it up and stuck it in his lunch box. Really, there were only like ten chips in that entire bag.

His eyes darted away from the screen and he glanced at the teachers-turned-sentinels stationed near the doors. Probably because they didn't want anyone skipping class when there would be no proof they had. His fervor also revealed that he wasn't the only one watching the watchers. Dash -probably wanting to skip class,- Valerie -most likely having detected the ghost with some sort of tech,- and Sam, who was most definitely looking for any exits. Seemed that she wasn't worried, either.

"Danny's right." Sam turned back to the table as she found that there was at least one teacher at each exit.

"But what if a ghost caused an explosion or something?" Tucker pointed out and finally put his apple away.

"I can't exactly sneak away, Tuck." Danny whispered hoarsely under his breath. He popped a chip into his mouth, seemingly calm. But on the inside he was anxious, and it was growing. Who knew what ghost was out there? It _could_ just be Boxy gathering an inanimate army of cardboard, it _could_ be Technus screwing with the city's power in a half-witted attempt to take over the world, or it _could_ be Skulker, hunting innocent humans. He just didn't know.

"Escape plans?" He asked, his voice anxious now.

"Mr Lancer's looking like he'll need to duck out soon." Sam pointed to their homeroom teacher. Said teacher was shifting from foot to foot, papers still in hand like he'd been dragged out of his classroom and told to stand there. He looked a bit like he was doing a potty dance.

"Setting aside how hilarious it is to see that, how long do you estimate it'll take till he goes?" Danny asked. He chuckled inwardly, seems that adults really were just bigger kids. He'd even discovered that Lancer plays doomed. Though the teacher had recognized him as Phantom in-game and practically tried to interview him, starting with asking whose computer he was using. Needless to say it was a bit panic-inducing trying to fabricate a believable story while being shot at. Eventually he just logged out. He'd blocked Lancer in-game shortly after.

"Ten minutes, tops." Sam turned her gaze away from Lancer, trying not to arise any suspicion from staring too long. Danny and Tucker averted their gazes soon after. There was a strained silence as they each watched Lancer through their peripheral vision and eating quietly. Danny's strained sigh was the only break.

"Go away, go away, go away," He chanted under his breath. He finally got his wish- though he was careful not to actually say 'wish,' they learned their lesson the last time Sam had said _that_ word- when Lancer finally gave in and rushed out of the door.

"I'll be back," Danny remarked offhandedly as he stood from his seat and made his way towards the vacant door. Half-hearted replies could be heard behind his back as he left the cafeteria. Deciding not to duck into the bathroom as usual for fear of finding Lancer, Danny instead darted into a supply closet, the second least likely place to have cameras. Unless they just really didn't want their wet wipes stolen. A quick glance eased Danny's worries of cameras as he transformed.

Rings formed around his waist and spread to reveal features distinct to the opposite of Danny Fenton. It was Danny Phantom who now took up the space. Fenton's midnight black mess he called hair shifted until it was the ethereal white of the first snowfall. His signature red oval turned to the (in)famous symbol designed by none other than Samantha Manson. Blue to green, white to black, human to ghost, you know the drill. The now-spectre turned intangible, invisible and took off into the sky.

It turned out that none of his worries were really worth it. Technus was zooming around town, but he would've had huge tears streaking down his face if he was human. The techno-ghost was just flying aimlessly over town, distraught. Danny kind of felt bad for confronting him when he was in such a state, but he tried to greet kindly.

"Is something wrong?" he asked, voice full of concern. Technus' head whipped around so fast he should've gotten whiplash. He was in front of Danny so quickly that the halfa could've sworn he'd teleported. The tech ghost's fingers wrapped around Danny's arms, pinning them to his sides and pulling him close to his face.

" _WhAT HappENeD?!_ " He screamed right in Danny's face. Danny was in such shock that he didn't answer right away, which made Technus freak out even more. He threw Danny away into the air and turned away, muttering to himself hysterically.

Danny was genuinely confounded when he suddenly found himself being thrown through the air despite not having thrown a single punch. Suddenly his head caught up and he stopped himself before he went crashing into Amity's 'it's a nice place to live' sign. Again. Pulling himself forwards, Danny stopped well outside of what he thought of as 'Techhie's Tantrum Zone.'

"What's wrong?" Danny asked, trying to make his voice as gently as he could. He had a vague idea, but no real clue as to why the ghost before him was so distraught.

"What happened to my _**precious**_?!" Technus exclaimed, turning around to face Danny again. Danny let the reference slide as he finally pieced together why Technus was upset. Technus pulled his knees up to his chest.

"I think my parents blew up the power grid," He shrugged and put a hand on Technus' shoulder. He was actually crying now. But after a moment, the words sunk in and his body was engulfed in rage-filled flame.

" _ **They did what?!**_ " He exclaimed, leaping from his sitting position to a standing one. He darted off in a blur of white, green, and blue as soon as the words left his mouth. Danny took off after him, pulling his thermos off of his belt. Hopefully Technus wouldn't cause too much trouble. The Techhie ghost was surprisingly quick for what seemed to be his old age. Both ghosts were blurred by their speed as they practically raced towards Fenton Works, towards Danny's home.

"Slow down!" Danny ordered. Technus did nothing to stop flying but instead began talking.

"Why are you following?!" He asked as Fenton Works zoomed into view.

"Because I don't want you to hurt my parents!" Danny exclaimed. He held the Thermos in two hands and took aim at Technus. He must've caught sight of what Danny was doing because he started banking and twisting and just flying all over the place, but was still going towards his goal.

Danny closed one eye and took aim with the thermos. A fleeting thought popped into his head that he should put some sort of sight on it one day. Catching Technus in his imaginary crosshairs, he pushed the button and fired it. Technus screamed in rage as he was sucked into the device.

"My technologyyyy!" He exclaimed as he disappeared into the infamous Fenton Thermos. Danny sighed with relief after his opponent was contained. Deciding not to bother dropping Technus off in the GZ until he calmed down, Danny raced back to the school.

The half-ghost turned intangible and sunk straight through each floor until he got to the closet from earlier. Black turned to white, green to blue, ghost to human. He raced out of the door and down the short stretch of hallway back to the Cafeteria. Just his luck. Students started streaming out through the doors, still carrying their phones or flashlights. The previously dark and silent hall was engulfed in noise and light. Danny pushed himself against the side of the hall and shuffled, trying to make his way towards the doors. He was almost there when he spotted Sam and Tucker being carried out in the stream of students. Danny took a deep breath and delved into the stream of students.

It was like swimming upstream. Each time Danny took a step, he had to dodge around a different teen. And the lack of proper lighting didn't make it any easier. He must've gotten blinded at least four times when someone accidentally pointed their flashlight or phone in his face. Though it hadn't seemed like an accident when he found Paulina's light burning his eyes. He finally managed to take advantage of his short stature and make it to his friends.

"You look like you got run over," Tucker remarked when he finally caught sight of Danny trying to get through the crowd. Much to the annoyance of everyone behind him, Tucker stopped walking and waited for Danny to catch up. Sam heard the commotion and stopped too.

"Did you?" Sam added worriedly. She held out Danny's lunchbox in her hand. The crowd was starting to thin as class would be starting back up soon. Most of them were griping about how they couldn't wait until the next hour was up, as after that they'd be allowed to go home.

"No, I did not get run over." Danny huffed, taking his lunchbox from Sam.

"Thanks." His hair was staticy and a swirling mess. The trio wordlessly walked side by side down the hall. Not a word needed to be passed to know where each was going.


	3. Ghost Adventures

Danny sat in between his friends, head 'resting' on his desk. Sam had pulled out her sketchbook long ago and was doodling costume redesigns for Danny. Tucker was on his PDA, as usual. So all in all, the class was pretty uneventful. At least until someone noticed Danny was dead to the world at the back of the room.

"Shh! Everyone quiet!" Someone exclaimed. Sam caught sight of the boy, Rylan, looking at Danny and telling everyone to quiet down. And he was succeeding where their teacher had failed. Sam and Tucker exchanged a look, both knowing what happened if you woke Danny up during class.

"Look!" Rylan exclaimed, pointing at the Fenton in the room. There was a squeak of chairs as they all turned to see the slumbering halfa. Sam groaned, they were gonna wake him, weren't they?

"Sleeper alert!" Another student called out. Soon flashlights and the such illuminated Danny. His onyx hair was sticking up in wild places, his bangs covered his face, and there was a slight bit of drool on the desk. He looked peaceful. That would soon be 'remedied.' Many people were shushing each other, though those people only added to the noise.

"Everyone just be quiet!" Rylan exclaimed loudly. Danny shifted in his sleep, but he didn't wake. That caused the entire class to go silent.

"Just let him sleep." Sam rolled her eyes.

"Yeah." Tucker joined. Their scheming peers paid them no mind and continued to discuss what to do.

"Anybody have a water bottle? We'll dump it on him!"

"No, let's all go into the hall and make him think he slept through school!"

"Nah, Sam and Tucker wouldn't agree to it."

"Then we drag them out with us!"

"No way, Sam is too creepy, do you see the look she's giving us?" That had the entire group's heads swivelling to look at the resident goth who was, in fact, glaring at them. A few shivered under her icy lavender gaze.

"Sam, you're freaking them out." Tucker said, not even having to look up from his PDA. Sam let the offenders off with one more scathing look before turning to Tucker. He had one earbud in his ear that she couldn't see. Though she knew this by the cord dangling from his precious PDA.

"How'd you know?" She asked, resting her head on her hand and sitting side-saddle in her chair. A slight smile spread over Tucker's lips.

"Best friend senses." he smiled, still watching his PDA, or so he called it. It was actually a smartphone, but he'd named it PDA and it had a case that made it look like one. Sam raised an eyebrow and got up to sit on Tuck's desk. He wordlessly shifted the screen so she could see. Her breath fogged the air in front of her and she held her IT so as not to fog the screen. It showed a scene from the TV show 'Ghost Adventures.'

"Wanna watch?" He asked, holding the earbud out for her.

"Scooch," Sam grinned. So the pair were squished together onto the seat connected to the desk. Though they were both fairly small, so it wasn't too hard getting comfortable. Though their winter coats made it a bit more difficult. In fact, almost everyone in the room was wearing a coat of some sort. Though a few girls had huddled together in the back corner of the room under a blanket.

In the show, one of the dudes suddenly screamed about some 'cold spot' while another theorised that there was a ghost in the room. One of them started shivering for show. Another screeched, saying they felt something touch them. All in all, they were a group of overdramatic sissies. And it was hilarious. The pair found themselves trying to keep in their laughs.

Suddenly lights blinked into existence over their heads and groans rang out all over the room. The ever-present buzzing of fluorescent light returned with a vengeance. Sam and Tucker's heads jerked up at the sudden light, and almost everyone in the room shielded their eyes. When they opened them, Mr. Faulk was suddenly back at the front of the room, microphone around his neck. Sam's earbud slipped out as she jerked, and Tucker shut down his PDA before the teacher could say anything. Danny continued to sleep, peacefully oblivious to the scathing look Mr. Faulk was giving him.

"There were ten minutes left!" Someone complained. A murmur of agreement spread over the room.

"Ahh, precious warmth." Someone else sighed as the heater kicked on. Mr. Faulk cleared his throat, emitting a throaty sound from the speakers overhead. Many covered their ears and laid their heads on their desk, already bored at the lack of freedom.

"If everyone would please pay attention, we can actually-" The overhead bell cut him off. Everyone dashed from their seats, the girls in the corner scrambling to get all of their things together. Sam gently shook Danny's shoulder, but it was enough for him to be snapping awake. His eyes narrowed in confusion for a moment, ut then he grumbled something under his breath and started to load his bookbag.

"That'll be a detention for sleeping during class." Suddenly Mr. Faulk was standing there, in all his greying glory, smirking down upon Danny. The halfa wanted to argue the unfairness, but he'd already learned better than to argue with a teacher. So he took the slip from Mr. Faulk's hand with a scowl in his face.

"Should've ran while I could." Danny muttered as he left the room, Sam and Tuck hot on his heels.

"Sorry, dude." Tucker patted him on the shoulder. Now Danny would wish he could say the crowd parted like the red seas before him, but that would be a lie. Almost no one moved out of the way or allowed them to get past, making the trio split up. Danny's heart sped up to almost normal speed as he was suddenly alone in a sea of only vaguely familiar faces. He really should start getting to know people outside of Sam and Tucker, but that was too hard considering how little time e had for himself. Plus he would have to make excuses all the time, which could ruin any friendship.

"Daniel Fenton to the office." Suddenly the PA system crackled to life, calling Danny out. With barely a sigh, Danny changed directions. Getting sent to the office wasn't anything new for the halfa. Usually, they just pulled him aside and asked for him to talk to the counsellor, or berated him for his missed attendance. They'd already tried to assign him a truancy officer, but Sam and her influence had saved his butt. The smell of deodorant-less freshman assaulted his nose as he had to start fighting against the current. It was like swimming upstream.

When he finally walked into the office, he saw the usual oriental carpet, beige walls, and reception desk. However, he did not see the usual looks of disappointment -and even anger, sometimes- that those present usually wore. No, he saw looks of pity and sorrow on the faces of everyone in the room. And they were all looking at him. Confused, he walked up to the receptionist.

"Um, what's going on?" He asked. She stopped her furious typing and looked up at him sadly. The school bell rang somewhere else in the building.

"Your parents are in the hospital," She tilted her head up at him and gave him a pitying look. Danny's heart stopped. What? What did she mean? How could they-

"W-why?" Was all he managed to stammer out. Tears came to his eyes before he even processed what she had said.

"I'm not sure," She looked off to the side embarrassedly. Just at that moment, Jazz walked in. They must've called her too.

"What's going on?" Jazz asked in the brisk tone she used when being brought away from her study sessions at home. But she started when she spotted Danny in the room. His eyes were glazed over with unshed tears and Jazz rushed to put an arm around him. He clasped his hands around her waist and held onto her like she was going to slip away at any moment. Jazz rubbed his back, trying to comfort him.

"Hey, it's okay," She soothed as he fell apart. She pulled Danny's arms from around her waist and kneeled, properly letting him hug her. He cried into her shoulder and mumbled about something she couldn't make out. Jazz turned to the receptionist, confused.

"Your parents are in the hospital, if you have any family that can take you, I can call them." The receptionist offered, trying her best to give a sad smile. Jazz cursed her luck, the one day she got up late and asked Danny to fly her to school. It wasn't like she didn't care her parents were injured, but she'd just known something would happen. They and their inventions were a ticking time bomb that had just finally decided to go off. She was more worried about Danny at the moment. Looking down at him sobbing into her sweater, she decided he was in no condition to fly them there.

"I might know someone." Jazz started, ready to explain that they knew the mayor. But then Mr. Lancer walked up behind the receptionist. His messy tie hung as he leaned over the receptionist's shoulder.

"I can take them, Bethany." He suggested. He had a somber look on his face and a kind glint in his eye.

"Are you sure William?" The receptionist -Bethany- asked. She turned her rolling chair to look at him. Jazz mulled it over in her head. She'd rather not deal with Vlad today, and here a solution was practically being served up on a silver platter. Besides, Vlad would just gloat about their Dad and worry about their Mom. Meanwhile, a ruffled Danny would make death threats, and she didn't want to have to deal with all that.

"It'd be fine by me." Jazz rubbed circles in Danny's back, and his cries began to die down.

"Then it's settled. I have planning period now, but we best hurry." Mr. Lancer sped off to his office, presumably to grab his keys. Jazz looked down at the still mess of a boy and pulled him into her arms, lifting him up like when he was a toddler. He was surprisingly light, and it felt like he was all skin and bones. She made a mental note to make dinner more often if only to ensure he would eat. Their parents wouldn't usually save him any if he wasn't home, as they assumed he was having dinner at Sam or Tucker's houses. 'Leftovers' didn't really exist in the Fenton household.

Lancer's eyes widened slightly when he saw the slim sixteen-year-old carrying an even scrawnier fourteen-year-old. But he kept his mouth shut. Who knows how many times Daniel had skipped out on lunch and -if he kept his same habits at home- dinner. Also considering how often he walked in gasping for air after sprinting down the hall, it wasn't likely he had time to grab breakfast in the mornings.

By the time the trio stepped into the air, Danny had realised that Jazz was carrying him and grumbled indignantly, demanding to be put down. Claiming he was too old to be picked up, then asking incredulously how in the heck Jazz was able to carry him so easily. The older set him down with a roll of her eyes and a mutter of 'I work out.'

Lancer pointed out his car solemnly and they started across the parking lot, mostly attempting to keep their footing on the freshly frozen ground. The air was crisp and cold, and even Jazz and Lancer's breath fogged. The sharp chill burned Danny's face as he wiped away at his cheeks with his sleeve.


	4. A Tucker's Nightmare Place

None said a word as they got into Lancer's car. Jazz and Danny slid into the backseat, one on each side of the car. The younger stared out the window, watching big, fat snowflakes that were just beginning to fall from the cloudy, grey skies above. His breath fogged on it, which prompted him to drag his finger over the cold surface. Pictures formed without his input, and only one was recognizable. The (in)famous insignia was sketched out half a dozen times, Danny's attempt to get all the lines straight and the such. His wasn't nearly as neat as the ones Sam drew or the one on his actual suit, but it took his mind off of things, trying to make it look perfect.

The teacher sat in his car and immediately turned the heat onto full blast after managing to get the engine to turn over. The harsh weather almost kept it from doing so. Lancer rubbed his hands over his shoulders to get warm. While adjusting his rearview mirror, he spotted Daniel doodling on his fogged-up window. Lancer sighed but didn't make him stop. Jazz did it for him, elbowing her brother in the ribs. Danny stuck his tongue out at her in retort but stopped anyways.

A tangible anxiety coated the air as they drove. Danny stared blankly as the leather seat cover. He wouldn't have been able to hear anyone speak even if they did with the blood pumping in his ears. The feelings mingling in the air only managed to make him depressed. With Jazz's worry and Lancer's pity, not to count his own anxiety, it made for an awkward, strained silence. The engine rumbled and the old car trundled along its way slowly, but safely.

The icy blizzard of snowflakes and crystals did somewhat improve Danny's mood, to be in his element. As the present Fentons stepped into the outdoors, Danny drank in the cold, feeling the stone in his chest purr happily. Jazz thanked Mr. Lancer solemnly, and all too soon they were met with the door to the heated building. The stone told Danny to stay outside, that there would be bad things if he stepped over that threshold. It was an instinct telling him to stay away, but he wasn't quite sure what to do about it.

"Can- mind if I stay out here?" Danny asked, not meeting Jazz's gaze. He messed with the zipper on his sweatshirt that he'd already undone when they got out of the car. When he finally did manage to get himself to make eyes contact, Jazz's expression was sad, but a tinge of anger lit her brow.

"No way." She said simply, waving goodbye to a solemn Mr. lancer as he drove away. There was a moment of silence as the pair stepped through the door, a blast of warm air meeting them. Jaz sighed after a moment, wrapping an arm over Danny's shoulders and pulling him close.

"How are you holding up?" She asked, her ballet flats silent on the tile. The pair walked side by side towards the receptionist's desk.

"It was gonna happen eventually." Danny shrugged, somewhat attempting to get jazz to move her arm. But then he sniffled and wiped his nose on his sleeve, making no further attempts to escape from the embrace. He'd learned the hard way that you never run from a clingy, upset Jazz. The sharp chill that had settled in the room nipped at Jazz through her coat, but Danny -in but an unzipped jacket, t-shirt, jeans, and sneakers- had no such issue.

"Excuse me," Jazz greeted, waving her hand slightly. The receptionist turned her chair away from the computer with a tired, yet kind, smile. She looked at Jazz expectantly.

"We're here for our parents, the Fentons." The lady -Cathy, if her name tag was to be believed- gave a sad smile before nodding and twirling back around to face her keyboard.

It was almost silent except for the clacking of the keyboard for the next few moments.

"That's F-E-N-T-O-N, correct?" Cathy asked, not even looking up from the keys. Jazz gave a curt yes, and the clacking resumed for a minute Looking around the room, Dany spotted white tile, tan walls, and a set of leather-padded, wooden chairs. A little girl was held in her mother's arms, fast asleep in a chair. The girl winced every few moments and there were deeply etched worry lines on the mother's face. A couple walked out with a stroller between them, joyfully cooing at the child inside.

"Floor 2, room 213." Cathy broke the silence. Danny turned back to her, and she was pointing to something.

"There's the elevator or the stairs." She pointed. Jazz thanked her and left the desk, dragging Danny too.

The elevator was quiet as the siblings stepped on. Jazz still held Danny to her side but relaxed her grip. He slipped out of it as soon as he was able. Jazz sighed at his childishness and instead crossed her arms. Everything was quiet for a moment.

"What do you think they've done this time?" Danny joked with a dry chuckle. Jazz smiled back at him. WIthout a response, Danny continued;

"My guess is something flammable, I saw smoke earlier." At that, Jazz started.

"They better not have burned the house down." She set her brow and glared at the shiny, metal doors as if they were somehow at fault.

"Well don't go crazy on them just yet, they're in the hospital after all." The elevator stopped with a ding and the halfa knew he had ruined the mood. Jazz looked the other way and frowned, worry lines beginning to etch themselves onto her forehead. It made Danny's chest hurt to know that he was the one causing her to worry half the time. Let's just say... she wasn't exactly the best shot with anything but the Fenton Peeler or the Jack 'o' Nine Tails yet.

The numbers passed in a blur as the walked, the sound of Danny's wet sneakers making an irritating squeak at every step. '202, 204, 206, 208, 210...' Observing, Danny noticed that his side of the hall had the even numbers. He turned to his right and noticed that Jazz had stopped. RIght in front of room 213. Danny rubbed the back of his neck, worried for his parents.

"So, do-do you wanna go in together, or…?" Danny trailed off at Jazz's deadpan glare. She grabbed him by the wrist and pulled him through the door.

The room was so quiet you could almost hear a pin drop. The beds were lined up to the left with the headboards against the wall, and starchy white sheets wrapped around the figures sitting in them. The tile floor continued through this room, but the tan of the walla had turned to an egg-shell white. The wind whistled outside and rattled the window panes. Thick, white curtains blocked what little natural light made it through the clouds outside, making the room pitch black except for the light from the two lamps and television. Two soft, dull beepings filled the room. Jack and Maddie were sitting up in the beds, Jack was resting his eyes while Maddie was looking herself over.

"There you two are!" Maddie smiled at them. She waved slightly. Jack meanwhile snored loudly beside her and somehow managed to wake himself up. His right wrist was encased in an ecto-green cast. He, too, smiled at them as he pulled himself upright with his left arm, but a small wince did manage to break through his facade. Suddenly Maddie's face took a gaunt look.

"Why aren't you at school- how did you get here?" Just her tone told of how worried she was for them, even while she was the one in the hospital. Jazz darted forward and held Maddie's hand in her own.

"One of Danny's teachers gave us a ride." She explained. Her Mum's face visibly softened. Maddie let out a sigh and sank back into the pillows propping her up. She must've been relieved that her children hadn't skipped classes to come to check on her. She squeezed Jasmine's hand all the while.

"I thought you had walked here in the snow or something," Maddie laid her palm against her chest in relief. She gave Jazz a tired side smile. Soon the two were off on a tangent talking about things Danny couldn't find it in himself to care about.

Danny stood by the door awkwardly, not knowing what to do. He was glad that his parents weren't gravely injured or something, but he had no idea what to talk to them about. He couldn't even remember his last full conversation with either of them. But then Jack waved him over from the doorway.

"How's your day been?" Jack asked, grinning from ear to ear. It weirded Danny out a bit that he was smiling, but he shrugged it off as just another part of the patriarch's overly-bubbly personality. Sometimes Sam would swear that he acted like a cliche anime character. Danny had only glared at her, meanwhile coming to the realization she was right and laughing to himself after she'd left.

"It's -uh- it's been fine, I guess." Danny continued rubbing his neck, averting his gaze. He could practically feel the disappointment radiating off of Jack in waves. It put a sour taste in Danny's mouth.

"So… What happened?" Danny asked, eyeing Jack's cast. Jack went 'psh' and waved dismissively, the smile returning.

"Just little explosion, nothing I couldn't handle." He put his uninjured hand on his hip and sat up straight, making the bed groan under his weight. Danny chuckled and rolled his eyes.

"I'm sure it was, Dad." He smiled softly back at him. The awkward silence turned comfortable as Danny turned to look at the TV at the same time Jack did. On it was the show "The Bitty Burst Hypothesis." It told about a set of friends that were almost all geniuses, the funniest of which was the character that had deadpan one-liners almost every scene he was in. Danny's hand drifted until it found Jack's, and he held Jack's injured hand by the fingers, as his thumb was encased in the cast. As their fingers made contact, a chill wrapped around Danny's spine, ruining the moment and making him shiver. A hiccup of blue breath erupted from Danny's mouth and didn't manage to escape Jack's focus.

"Is it that cold in here?" Jack questioned, scratching his head. The halfa whipped his hand away, pulling it to his chest. Jack looked at him oddly, curiously. Danny laughed awkwardly, only making his Dad more suspicious. He cleared his throat and shrugged.

"I guess it is," Danny looked around for a moment, searching for an excuse to slink off for a while. He had to deal with whatever ghost had decided to cross paths with him at the moment.

"I- uh, gotta go to the bathroom." The half-ghost excused himself and ducked away. The rest of the Fentons watched the youngest of their number dart off with mixed emotions. Jazz was angry that he just snuck off without saying anything to her first. Jack was confused and a bit disheartened. Maddie thought that Danny was just being weird, being a teenager and all.

Danny pulled the door shut, making sure it clicked before he started speed-walking down the hall, wanting to be quick while also not disturbing anyone who might be sleeping or anything like that. After a wrong turn or two, Danny managed to find the restroom and made sure to lock the door behind him. The lights turned on with the flick of the switch. Danny felt guilt start to clog his throat as he called upon the stone in his chest. WIth a muttering of his catchphrase, Danny Phantom replaced Fenton.

With a sigh and a guilty look out of the side of his eye, Danny went intangible and took the plunge right through the off-white wall. His stomach rose in his throat as gravity released its hold, and Danny had to keep from whooping aloud. It was just unbelievable, all his life he'd wanted to experience zero-gravity, and now he was! His heart ached a bit at being unable to share the sensation. When he'd given Jazz a ride to school that morning, she'd held onto him for dear life, and he feet swung at the pull from the ground as they flew. She obviously didn't feel the same antigravity Danny did. The only sorta-humans that could share in the experience were either evil or halfway across the world somewhere.

 **If you're ready this, thank-you! I love reading your reviews and they always make me want to keep writing. Speaking of writing, I'm not sure if anyone realised already, but I'm trying to put up a new chapter every week! It's my first time with any kind of deadline -self-imposed or not- outside of school, so I'm really trying to stick to it. The next chapter will be out on the 28th as long as the power doesn't go out or something else happens that I can't control.**


	5. Annoying Fly-By

Danny kicked irritably at a wall as he hovered beside it. Not a ghost was in sight, a rare occasion in Amity Park. But that didn't make sense. The half-ghost knew that he had felt the tell-tale shivers of his ghost sense earlier, but yet here was the opposite of a ghost town spread out before him. It was infuriating. Either the ghost had just been flying by -but he would see them now, they couldn't have gotten that far- or they had purposefully gotten just close enough for his ghost sense to be triggered before they ran off.

But did the ghosts even know he had a ghost sense? Usually, they were causing enough trouble that any random person from off the street would know there was a ghost causing trouble if they just passively observed their surroundings. It didn't take a genius to find a floating blue man throwing boxes around and throwing a temper tantrum, or a hovering robot tossing missiles and firing at things. The train of thought made Danny wonder just how much his enemies knew about him besides his being a halfa, eve if they knew that. Sydney hadn't been able to tell -at first- after all. He'd been surprised and almost shocked. It briefly made Danny ponder how in the heck his parents were so oblivious- his Dad, at least, his Mum was a bit more observant. Would they ever be able to figure it out? Probably not until it was staring them in the face. Even the, they were most likely to assume that their precious son was just being overshadowed by a 'putrid amalgamation of post-human consciousness.' Just the thought of their rejection made him sick to his stomach.

Either way, guilt still pulled at his insides.

Sneering, Danny knew he shouldn't have left. It wasn't like the ghost could destroy the entire town in ten minutes. But even if he had been able to ignore his obsession for that long, he wouldn't have even known what to say anyway. With a glare on his face, Danny sped all the way across town back to the hospital. The buildings blurred underneath him and he furrowed his brows. He could only hope that the ghost had gone somewhere where they weren't making trouble. He couldn't be MIA for much longer.

The hospital came into view and Danny hastily turned invisible. He didn't remember turning visible, which was a testament to how ghost powers had become his norm. He didn't even realize he was using them on purpose. At least he wasn't falling through floors or getting lectures from Lancer on wearing a belt anymore. To think about it, intangibility was both his most useful power, and the most annoying in that month or two after the accident. He still couldn't believe what had happened to him sometimes. It felt like just a week ago that he had been normal, that his biggest worry was the bully that was Dash Baxter. Now his days were full of secrets and lies, all in an attempt to save his own hide.

The guilt came back. Here his parents were in the hospital, and he was a major part of that. They had been ready to throw in the towel and get real jobs after the Portal fizzled out. Sometimes he doubted which was more important; a normal life, or his powers? He flip-flopped on the issue. There was no real answer. He just wished the sinking feeling in his gut would go away as he blinked out of the physical plane. The halfa melted through the wall like it was nothing before shimmering back into view and letting the smooth feeling of his transformation wash over him, changing his form. Rings burst at his fingertips and were pulled back to his middle, back into his chest where his core now lay dormant, ready to be called upon.

Flushing the toilet to keep up appearances, Danny made his way out of the restroom. A man stood by the door, a look of relief on his face as he darted in past Danny and clicked the lock behind him. The halfa rolled his eyes, but the stone grew heavier. How long had that guy been waiting? Shaking his head to clear the thought, Danny continued down the hall. His footsteps sounded too loud in the quiet hall. They were the only one in his ears besides the shuffling of nurses here and there. He was still tempted to let his feet leave the ground, just to not disturb anyone. He found himself almost floating a few times, and had to stare at his feet to keep them on the ground. He was so focused that he bumped into a doctor in the hall.

"Sorry," He called after the retreating form, cupping his mouth with one hand. The guy didn't even notice. He just kept almost jogging down the hall, a sense of panic trailing after him. Danny grumbled under his breath about how rude that was before he spotted the door to room 213. How had he gotten back so fast? How had he even remembered the way? With a narrowing of his eyes, Danny shook it off.

As he turned back to his set path, a chill wrapped around his spine and made him hiccup. With a groan, the halfa looked around to see that no one was present. But then he had a thought. What if it was just the same ghost as before? They'd just disappear again. It wasn't worth it. Danny straightened up and -instead of running off again- continued his way back to his family. Despite his obsession telling him to at _least_ check.

The halfa took a deep breath a set his hand on the knob. The room was quiet. So quiet, in fact, that you could hear a pin drop. His Mum sat up in bed, picking at a scab on her arm. A quiet conversation trailed between her and Jazz, whose eyes immediately darted to Danny. She looked like she wanted to tell him something. But she didn't make any motion to get him to walk over, so Danny didn't really care to notice what they were talking about. Though from what he heard, it sounded like they were talking about the older Fenton's conditions, and how long it would be until they went home. The patriarch of the family was leaning against the pillows behind his head. The TV volume was low, but you could still hear it in the soft silence permeating the hospital room.

The door squeaked and Danny winced. All eyes turned to him. With an awkward wave, Danny closed the door behind him. His Dad waved back and beckoned him over. The women of the family returned to their conversation, talking in hushed tones. Danny shuffled over to his Dad's bedside. The person wrapped in the blankets was chuckling at the TV. A nerdy comedy show was playing, one dude had just deadpanned a joke that Danny didn't get. Apparently, his Dad did because he was howling with laughter. But it quieted in an instant and his mood turned sour. His hand clung to his side and his brows were furrowed.

"Are you ok?" Danny asked, his tone showing his worry. Jazz must've heard because she was standing on the other side of the bed, running a hand over their Dad's back.

"What's wrong?" She questioned worriedly. She studied mental illnesses, not physical ones, after all.

Jack was doubled over, clutching his ribs and looking in pain. Jazz panicked and pressed the nurse call button. Jack suddenly hiccupped, his breath fogging the air. That made Danny do a double take. Why was it that cold? It should be warm. The half-ghost grabbed the blanket that had also been stuffed behind the patriarch's head and pulled it up, onto his shoulders. He rubbed his back, too. Maddie fretted, asking what was wrong from the other bed. Jazz answered her hastily.

Danny's chest ached as anxiety filled it. Everything felt wrong. He could barely stand to keep on his feet by the bedside. His brows turned up in worry and he did what he could to help. Which wasn't much. Suddenly a nurse appeared, asking what the situation was and calling others into the room. Someone pushed an icepack into Jack's hands and he held it over his abdomen. Questions flew through the air, Jazz answering them, then Jack when he had finally caught his breath. As the situation was handled, Danny managed to catch his runaway breathing pattern. His breath slowed and the anxiety slowly started ebbing back into the tides. It was still there, though. A rough throbbing right over his heart.

"Wha-what's going on?" Danny asked, managing to speak again. Jazz set her hands on his shoulders and pulled him away from the bed to let the doctor and nurses examine their father. He didn't want to leave his Dad's side, but Jazz knew that. It was what was best if she insisted anyway. Danny was led to the loveseat by Maddie's bedside.

Their Mom was watching her husband to her right, looking away from Danny and Jazz. Her expression was filled with concern. And… guilt?

"Are you ok?" Danny asked her. She pried her gaze away from Jack and looked into Danny's eyes. Danny looked back. Maddie had bags under her eyes, and a bruise was forming on her left cheek. She looked injured, but not nearly as much so as their Dad. She gave a weak smile, if not for anything but appearances and to calm Danny, who still looked much too panicked in her eyes. She reached out and set her hand on his forearm, which was lying on the arm on the chair.

"I'm fine," Maddie pieced together a look which might've been reassuring. Danny saw it as unsure and worry-stricken. Jazz stood nearby, anxiously shifting from foot to foot. She was wringing her wrists. The nurses were circling, conversing in hushed tones with the patriarch of the Fentons.

"Where does it hurt?"

"My ribs,"

"Do you want a glass of water?"

"Uh, yes, please,"

"Someone set up an x-ray,"

"On it."

Jack, the mighty Jack Fenton, looked like a lost, hurt puppy as the three nurses swirled and asked question after question, not all of which was Danny able to catch. They were almost all gone in a flash, setting off to do whatever it was they needed to. Danny had heard every word they said and he was only more worried. One of them snuck back in the room as the last nurse left with a glass of water. He thanked her politely before sinking back into his pillows and taking a sip. Danny launched to his feet and darted around the bed, taking the glass from his Dad when he was done and setting it on a side counter.

"How are you feeling?" Danny asked. Jack opened one eye to look at Danny. Only then did the halfa notice just how exhausted he looked. There were bags under his eyes deep enough to carry a month's supply of fudge. Which was quite a lot in the Fenton household. Jack smiled genuinely at his youngest.

"I could use some fudge," He chuckled. But then a hand flashed to his side and his laughter was choked out. You could see the wince on his face. It made Danny's chest hurt with sympathy. A possibly broken rib was no joke, especially if you didn't have ghost powers.

"D'you know if there's a gift shop? Isn't that a thing in hospitals?" Danny asked everyone in the room. They all looked at his puzzledly, but Jazz decided to deign him with an answer, even if it was in a bit of a weirded-out tone.

"I don't think this one does." She eyes her younger brother with a look that told him 'you better not be trying to sneak off again.'

"Well, I'm gonna go see if there is one." He skirted his way towards the door and gave his big sister a mischievous grin. 'I'm actually going where I said this time,' The siblings conversed through glares more often than not and had gotten used to decoding the hidden looks. Danny left the room with a wave, tossing it over in his head whether or not a gift shop would have fudge.


	6. Pizza Run

As it turns out, the hospital did have a gift shop. Jack was happily munching away on a piece of fudge after Danny returned. No one had said much since Danny had left. They were all sitting around the room, watching TV like a family for the first time in forever, or at least since the portal had been activated. Between their own lives and some trying to avoid the others, they hadn't done much together. Leave it to some of their members being hospitalized to bring them together. For a family so lively, they were all so close to death. One of them, especially. Their Mum had made plans to do things as a family in the year or so since, but they always dissolved before they came to fruition. Ghosts were too close to the family. Every member.

Jazz's stomach growled in the middle of a laugh track. She blushed and turned away, embarrassed. But it made Danny realize his own gnawing in the pit of his stomach.  
"It's about time for dinner, isn't it?" Maddie asked, glancing at her watch. Sadly, the glass was broken out and the mechanisms were bent seven ways to Sunday. There was a minute of quiet besides the TV, a silent agreement.

"Well, what's everyone hungry for?" Their Dad asked, his booming voice quieted so as not to disturb others. Before anyone could speak, he suggested his own preference.  
"Ooh, Mads, do you think they'd let us have pizza up here?" His eyes shone like a little kid being given a lollipop. No one could say no to that face.

"But we don't have a car, who would go get it?" Jazz asked, always the sensible one.

"I can!" Danny exclaimed, standing up from where he'd laid his jacket underneath him on the ground. The two parents eyed him warily, his Mum more so. Danny turned away and sat back down quietly. Not like he could tell them that he could just fly to pick up the pizza. Jazz saved him.

"Me and Danny can pick it up, isn't there a pizza place a few blocks away?" Jazz suggested. She sent a wink Danny's way, which was obvious to the parents. Or at least the observant one. But Maddie let it go, pleased that her children were getting along. Maddie shifted in her bed and went to reach for her phone, but remembered she didn't have it. She'd left it on the kitchen counter so it wouldn't disrupt the portal with its signals. Like when you turn your devices off while a plane takes off.

"Do either of you have your phones, someone will have to order," Maddie asked. Danny turned to her from rolling his eyes at Jazz's antics. He went to reach for his own phone but practically facepalmed. He'd left it in his bookbag. It was probably still in his locker, as long as Dash hadn't stolen it again. He knew how to get into practically any locker at school. He sure opened them enough times. Mentally kicking himself, Danny shook his head.

"Nope, do you have yours, Jazz?" The teen asked. Jazz smiled smugly and pulled it out of her pocket.

"Like I love to say, better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it." Jazz waved the flip phone in the air and grinned across the floor at Danny, where they had both sat. Jack laughed at them childishly, apparently enjoying the sibling entertainment before him. Danny sat closer to the door and their Dad, while Jazz sat closer to their Mum. She was still smirking when she turned to their parents, well, more like she turned to Maddie.

"Do you want to order, or should I?" She asked. Their Mum thought about it for a moment but just shrugged. Jazz shrugged too. There was a minute of silence before Jazz got up and handed Maddie the phone.

"Thanks," Maddie said as she inserted the number. It took her a moment to remember, obviously. They hadn't ordered out or even ate as a family in a multitude of months, or even longer. Danny couldn't sit still as she ordered. He found himself staring longingly at the window, but he didn't even know why. Though now that he thought about it, he could tell why his gut was telling him to defenestrate himself. He'd been learning to "sense" a bit more with his ghost sense, after noticing that he got a feeling in his gut telling him which ghost it was sometimes. Usually, it was spot on, but only with ghosts like Skulker or the Box Ghost. Enemies that he sensed all the time. But right now it was… confused? Part of him was making his hair stand on end, but the other was making him want to relax. Needless to say, the anxious part of him was winning and he had to refrain from diving right through the window and out into the cool night air.

"Earth to Danny, I repeat, Earth to Danny," Why was there a hand waving in front of his face?  
"Does that sound good?" Danny was shaken back to reality by a poke to his shoulder from his annoying older sister. He had to hold back a wince and grabbed his shoulder right where she'd touched his healing bruise. The older looked guilty when she saw him cover it, but Danny still glared at her. She could at least say sorry. Though that would make their parents suspicious… he retracted his glare and instead gave her an 'ok' sign.

"Does what sound good?" The teen asked, the world coming back into focus around him. His Mum looked at him confusedly.

"Pepperoni pizza," She replied, her confusion washing away as she realized he'd just been zoned out.

"It better be a large!" Jack interrupted before Danny could say anything. Seeing the patriarch squirming in his seat at the prospect, Danny found it hard not to laugh. As it was, a faint chuckle left his lips and earned him a glare from the overbearing one next to him. That made him just want to roll his eyes. But then he'd be getting a glare from his Mum, too. But how could he not laugh? His Dad was like a Great Dane that still wanted to be a lapdog. He was just like a dog in general, except he was allowed to have chocolate.

"Fine by me." Danny shrugged. His attention was drawn back to the TV. A laugh track was playing, so one of them must've made a joke. Judging by who was in the close-up view at the moment, he'd missed another dead-panned pun. Oh well.

"How long did they say it'll be?" Jazz asked.

"About 30 minutes," Maddie answered. She handed Jazz's phone back to her and laid back into her pillows. With a sigh, she closed her eyes and relaxed for a moment. Jazz took it gratefully and sat down on the loveseat. She scrolled through her phone for a moment before getting up and stretching, her joints cracking as she reached towards the ceiling. With a groan, she stopped stretching and started walking towards the door.

"We'd better get going," She waved a hand in Danny's direction. He noticed the gesture and got to his feet to follow her. Jazz slipped on her shoes she'd set by the door and the two set off after saying goodbye.

There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two. Their steps sounded quietly, muffled by the oriental carpet beneath their feet. Neither spoke until they stepped into the tile-floor elevator. It was quite big and each of them leant against opposite sides.

"Do you wanna walk or fly?" Jazz asked, though her face showed her apprehension. As Danny's icy blue eyes met her teal ones, she groaned. Danny's eyes were alight with a mischievous glint. He was tired of just sitting around, and the sky had been calling to him all day.

"You're an open book sometimes, you know that?" Jazz asked rhetorically, crossing her arms.

"I know." Danny grinned and tugged on the cold swirl in his chest. Jazz had already closed her eyes in preparation. She just knew her little brother too well. Rings flashed into existence around Danny's waist, rising upwards and turning the halfa in the form which gave him his namesake. The rings of light disappeared and Danny let his feet leave the ground.

That was a mistake, it turned out. The elevator continued descending, but Danny did not. In a split second his head smashed on the top of the elevator and he let out a yell. He fell back to the ground of the elevator with a yelp. Danny sat there, dazed, rubbing his head and blinking, trying to clear the stars he was seeing. He snapped into focus when he heard an utterly unholy guffaw from the other side of the elevator. Jazz was doubled over laughing, wheezing to catch her breath. Danny only glared and focused some cold to his hand to hold to his head.

Jazz finally managed to catch her breath and straightened out when the doors opened with a ding. A strike of anxiety pierced her chest when she saw people waiting, staring at her. But then they walked in without a care, not paying her any mind. The teen's head whipped around and she spotted a misty figure grasping her arm. She let out a sigh of relief as she realized the people never had a chance of seeing a boy who could turn invisible. Neither shared a word as Danny let himself be released from gravity and slid his arms under Jazz's neck and knees. She wrapped an arm around his neck and they were off, intangible, through the walls.

They emerged into the cold air and Jazz exploded on him.  
"You scared me! Why didn't you say anything?" She spoke loudly as the ground shrunk beneath them.  
"I would have, but I couldn't hear myself think over your laughing." He glared at her in return. Jazz stared at him blankly but then burst out in another fit of giggles.

"I will drop you." Danny threatened. The cold winter air went straight through them as they soared towards the pizza place. Jazz unconsciously tightened her grip around her little brother's neck. A glance downwards showed the ground over a hundred feet below.

"You wouldn't." The cluster of stores came into view, the pizza place being one of them. The golden lights lit up the night, making it bright enough for each sibling to make out the other's face. Danny only smiled and looked straight ahead.

Suddenly Jazz's stomach rose into her throat and she felt like throwing up. She tried to scream, but all that came out was a strangled yelp. Wind rushed against her back, and air howled in her ears. Her chest ached and it felt like she couldn't breathe. Air swirled and cold pushed, but then it all stopped. Everything snapped into focus and Jazz spotted her brother looking down at her, eyebrows creased.

"Are you okay?" He asked, worry lines on his face making themselves known. Jazz curled her lip and pushed away from Danny, landing on her butt on the cement. She just noticed the buildings around them. An alleyway.

"You- you dropped me!" Jazz exclaimed, getting to her feet and wiping dust from the knees of her jeans. She crossed her arms and felt her face get hot.

"No I didn't!" Danny exclaimed, an insulted look on his face. The worry washed away and instead he was angry that he was being accused of something he hadn't even done. His green eyes glowed with a sharper intensity, ectoplasm pooling in his irises.

"I just started coming down and turned us tangible, you're the one who freaked out and started screaming!" He put his own hands on his hips and glared at her icily. Cold air rushed into the alley, sending wrappers and plastic bags smashing against the brick walls and some leaves even forming a swirl in the air. Jazz realized his words and changed her posture, releasing her crossed arms back to her sides.

"Oh, sorry." She smiled sheepishly.

 **Sorry there wasn't a chapter last week, I just couldn't get in the mood to write, what with my competition and other stuff. By the way, if you don't know the meaning of defenestration, it's throwing a person out of a window. My friend found it in an old dictionary, and I decided to use it here. Happy Pi day!**


	7. So That's Why It's Familiar

The blast of warm air ruffled the raven-haired boy's locks and lifted the hair from his sister's shoulders. A soft bell rang above the glass door as the two stepped into the homey shop. The smell of cheese and baking dough filled the air, and Danny took the smell in. His stomach grumbled and he looked at the pizzas being made hungrily. Jazz, being the older of the two, walked up to the counter and took charge for the pair.

A man was sitting behind the counter, tapping away on his phone with his feet up on the stool. The sound of something like Candy Crush could be heard faintly in the background. He looked up as they walked in, quickly slipping his smartphone into his pocket. He cleared his throat and stood, watching as they approached.  
"What can I do you for?" He asked in a kind, yet low timbre. He had brown hair that seemed to have been gelled into place. A splay of recently-shaved hair could be seen along his jawline, a five o' clock shadow, perhaps?

Jazz smiled kindly back at him.  
"I came to get a carry-out for Fenton," Jazz said in her own honeyed voice. As Danny surveyed the shop, he couldn't help but get a feeling of deja-vu. It was like he'd been there before, but he knew for a fact that he hadn't. This was probably the first time in forever that they didn't order a pizza to their house. The local delivery places knew them so well that sometimes they didn't even have to order. Not to mention the fact that their Mum had memorised this place's number.

"Fenton, huh?" The cashier raised his eyebrow at them but turned to the small shelving unit behind the counter. It was turned just so the teens couldn't see it, though if the looked past it they would see a large pizza oven and the toppings spread in bins atop a stainless steel table. The front of the shop where they were standing was actually quite small, with only a few red, plastic chairs for people waiting. No tables, though. Off to the side was a little stool with a sign telling kids the watch their pizza being made. The half-wall had a window right there, and little fingerprints could be seen all over the glass. Danny vaguely remembered that place right there, and his own small fingers and puffs of breath fogging the glass. Maybe he just remembered being here when he was younger?  
"Aha, here you are." Using two hands the man pulled two boxes off of the middle shelf. There was a larger one, customary for pizzas, but there was also a smaller, thinner one sitting on top of it. Danny could already smell the garlic, and his stomach grumbled in addition to his mouth watering. Garlic was his favourite-  
"Now, it was already paid with credit, right?" The cashier asked. Jazz nodded, and with a thanks, they were on their way. Jazz was about the push open the door by its frigid handle when a voice rang out.  
"Hey, are your parents the Fentons?" Jazz and Danny both whipped around to hear. The man was standing, each hand palm down on the countertop.

"Yeah," Danny shrugged, eyeing him carefully. Their parents had quite a reputation, and whether it was good or bad depended on who you talked to. Though the answer was always certain if you talked to a Manson who was legally allowed to drive, Ida not included.

"Can you ask 'em to come down here sometime? Some ghost keeps stealing all of our boxes," he asked, a tone of annoyance clear in his voice.

Danny fought the urge to facepalm. Now he knew why it was so familiar, he came in here all the time to catch the Box Ghost. He'd have to give the spectre a piece of his mind the next time they fought. Danny gave the guy a simple thumbs before opening the door.  
"Thanks," Jazz smiled, carrying the pizza box. Danny let her go out first before it popped into his head that they didn't have anything to eat off of. He darted back into the store, his head of black hair looking almost white in the moonlight. Really, how did no one ever see it? They must all be deaf -no- blind, not deaf.

"D'you have any plates?" he asked. The guy behind the counter nodded, reached somewhere Danny couldn't see and held out a few of them. Danny thanked him and rushed outside to catch up with Jazz. The wind swirled and made Jazz shiver as a wave of cold ran down her spine. When Danny stepped out of the store, it just made the air colder. Jazz licked her lips, which were getting chapped. Danny made his "thinking face" -furrowed his eyebrows, bit the inside of his cheek- prompting Jazz to question.

"What's up?" She gave him a side-eye. He was staring off into space, which was ironic considering his hobbies.

"Rhcs yh nkdil vh ehiy?" His voice came out in barely a whisper, sending another shiver jolting down Jazz's spine. She gasped at the sensation. Jazz noted the echo in the words and was yanked back to the present. Danny was staring at her oddly, his brows furrowed as if he was trying to figure what he said wrong. Jazz straightened hastily, trying to regain her composure.

"Rhi clekl sk jdixsczi?" There it was again, sending a wintry dread that twisted around her spine and tried to take root. Another shiver racked her body and an almost strangled breath fogged in the air. Yet she managed to keep her exposure, instead staring at her brother who had just uttered such ghostly words, without even a care.

"That wasn't English," She pointed out. Danny looked shocked, but then readied a snappy reply.

"I think you need to study more, then," He looked at her smugly, but Jazz could no doubt see the spark of confusion in his eye. Danny looked at her curiously, what did she mean? Of course, he was speaking English. Jazz was about to refute when an elderly couple walked up to the two, who were still bickering right outside of the pizza shop.

"Excuse us," The old lady walked with a cane, and the teens hastily stepped out of her way, stuttering apologies for blocking the door. The lady shot them each a kind smile, said it was no problem and went into the shop. The other-presumably her husband- held the door, and smiled not unkindly at them as he joined her within the warmth of the shop.

"Let's take this to the alley," Danny remarked off-handedly. The 'so no one overhears,' came without saying. Jazz nodded, filed the account for later, and followed her little brother as the wind nipped at her winter coat and the pizza almost burned her hands. The contrast was almost intriguing. Suddenly the warmth vanished from her fingers and she shoved her hands into her pockets. Danny was standing in front of her, in ghost form. When had he transformed? She hadn't seen a flash of light, not even a flicker. She then spotted the boxes in his hands, and she realized where the pizza had gone.

Danny snatched the pizza from Jazz's hands, meanwhile tossing it over in his head just how he was going to manage holding Jazz and the pizzas without spilling any of the toppings. An imaginary light bulb flashed in his head and a smirk lit his face. A glowing green platform about two feet by two feet and paper thin appeared in the air. Danny smiled at his ingenuity as he set the box on top. With barely a moment of thought, sides formed and the package was sealed in a safe container.

"Won't it be suspicious if someone sees a glowing green box fifty feet up in the sky?" Jazz raised a finger to the sky. She did have a point, who wouldn't be weirded out by a glowing light in the middle of the sk- oh. No, they wouldn't.

"Nope," Danny answered, focusing on keeping the hot-running ectoplasm from burning the box. He could feel the energy in his core like it was another limb. An odd, unmoving one at that. He knew from experience that if he just cut off the "shield" from getting any more energy to keep it going, it would dissipate into the air.

"They'll probably think it's just a plane or something if we fly high enough," It started to get a bit too hot for his liking, and he pushed out some icy energy along with the warmth which was being extended to the box, maybe if he focused he could get just the right amount. He knew he'd spaced out of the conversation, and continued after Jazz's lack of reply.  
"Besides, this town is full of ghosts. Most likely someone will call Mom or Dad, it's just Val we'd have to worry about." the halfa shrugged, his face showing but a small hint of worry.  
"Ready to head off again?" he asked, taking a step towards his older sister.

"Why don't you make a shield like that for me to ride on instead of carrying me?" She asked, not unkindly. Danny barely had to toss it around for a moment before replying. The heat beginning to trickle out made him decide.

"Can't, my shield are really hot and if I have to focus on keeping them cold, I lose focus." That earned him a look from Jazz.

"Isn't that what you're doing with the box?" The older asked inquisitively.

"Yeah, but I'm also keeping the pizza warm, I don't have to make it as cold. Ready?" Jazz barely stuttered her reply before Danny picked her up in a feat of ghostly strength and took off into the air. Jazz held onto his neck for dear life as they rocketed high enough into the sky that they would only look like dots to anyone on the ground, and vice versa. The wind lifted Jazz's hair from her shoulders, and the moonlight glinted off of Danny's snow-white hair, making his ghostly glow ever more noticeable.

When Jazz finally managed to open her own eyes, a strike of anxiety struck her chest as she realized just how bizarre her life was. She had a half-ghost, maybe even half-dead, brother, and a portal to another dimension sitting casually in her basement. She was soaring super high above the ground, with her little brother being the only thing keeping her from death. They were heading to a hospital with pizza for their parents, carrying it in a box of the closest thing the pure energy you could get, all because her brother walked into said portal and tripped. What even was her life? Was it all just one big illusion? Was she dreaming?

Glowing, burning green eyes staring into her own yanked Jazz back into reality.  
"Why are you staring at me?" Jazz asked, raising an eyebrow. Danny quickly averted his gaze, but Jazz could still see purple spots in her vision from his shining stare. She blinked them away and shifted a bit to hold on tighter to Danny's neck. Without a word, Danny loosened his grasp a small bit to let her shift.

"I wasn't staring. I was going to ask if you wanted to stop at home first, Mum and dad might think it suspicious if we're back too soon." Danny's look blanked for a moment right after Jazz heard a small hiss somewhere. She looked around and saw the box holding the two other boxes floating right behind her head, and she hadn't even noticed. The heat that she hadn't even noticed emanating from the box suddenly disappeared, leaving a cold chill on the back of her head. She really should've grabbed her Heavier coat that morning-

"Sure, I need my coat anways," Danny nodded, and with a turn, they were off towards home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~  
 **Yeah, I added in ghost speak. I think it's something that would be known to all ghosts, and Danny might occasionally slip into it on accident, kinda like kids who are raised bilingual sometime say a word in the wrong language. If you'd like to translate what he's saying, I wrote out a keyboard as if it was "abcde" instead of "qwerty," and shifted the letters based on which one overlaid each. Then translate from Esperanto to English!**


	8. The Portal?

Danny's booted feet touched down upon his carpet, and only then did he turn tangible and visible. He didn't want to freak Jazz out again. Even still she shivered before pushing herself out of his arms. The older cleared her throat and walked out of the room indignantly. Was she embarrassed that Danny was carrying her? It troubled him, but Danny shoved that aside as he set the pizzas on his bed. He had to clear a spot for it on the quilt.

Once that was taken care of, Danny practically collapsed onto his bed. The covers were cold, just like the entire rest of the house. Seemed that the power wasn't back on yet. Mist fogged in the air from Danny's breaths, yet he didn't feel the cold. He was an ice core, after all. Even if that made no sense. IN fact, nothing about him made sense. If you went by everything that was known to be scientifically possible, he should be dead. But then again ghosts were kind of a contradiction in itself. There were probably a lot of Christians that were messed up when ghosts first appeared, trying to make them make sense with their religion. In fact, ghosts were probably the reason the older Fentons weren't very religious. As a result, neither Jazz nor Danny were very much either.

Danny stared up at his ceiling through his fogs of breath, and he almost found himself wishing that one of them would come out blue. There was a knot of anxiety in his chest, he was worried that something would happen to his Mum or Dad while he and Jazz were gone. What if that ghost he'd kept sensing attacked them? What if a ghost came looking for him there, and decided on attacking the two ghost hunters while they were weaponless? WIth a start Danny gasped and sat up straight, rings forming at his waist with barely a thought.

The heaviness of gravity stole at his limbs, and the halfa had to fight a wave of dizziness. It was always very odd getting used to gravity after going on a long flight, but the now-human hoped he was starting to get better. With barely a glance at his untied laces or messy black hair, Danny bolted out of his door and off towards the steps. His fingers glided over the bannister as he practically yeeted himself down the stairs. The living room met his view at the landing as he did a sharp 180 to the left and darted into the kitchen. The room was abandoned, but the scuffs of mud, dirt, and small puddles of water on the ground were signs that there had been people here. At first, the boy was confused, but then he smacked himself as he realised what an idiot he was. Of course, there were people in the kitchen, someone had to have found his parents and taken them out of the lab if that was even where they had been. Though the markings on the walls seemed to be supporting that idea. Speaking of the lab…

"Danny, what are you doing?" Jazz asked from the top of the steps. She was staring down at her little brother from the small loft which overlooked the living room. STaring straight down she could still see Danny in the middle of the doorway to the kitchen. The aim of the teen girl's glare took a step back and met her eyes. It took her a moment to realise they were blue.

"I was gonna go check on the lab," The halfa said, his eyes darting to the door in question. Its doorknob was embedded into the plaster, the door blasted into the kitchen with its hinges holding it open the wrong way. The door opened inwards, after all. Singe marks were present on the wood door and a cloying lump of dread made his throat hurt. Just how badly were his parents hurt? Les importantly, was the portal damaged? The ghost-knowing part of Danny's brain also couldn't help but take notice the green tinge of the blast marks, just what had happened down there? Had they been attacked and unable to get their weapons? Or was it just another malfunction, just gone a bit more wrong than normal? Thinking back on it, Danny probably should've asked them more about what happened, what if there was something ghostly wrong with them? Just what had they been working on?

It was almost as if Jazz could sense his anxiety. They weren't twins, but they must've had some kind of sibling bond or something. Too bad Danny hadn't quite unlocked that power yet.  
"I'll be right down, wait for me." Jazz dashed back off to her room, red hair trailing behind her like a flame. She leapt down the steps in great leaps much like Danny had done, though she had an air of caution about her as she descended. Danny heard her stifle a gasp as her feet stopped short on the threshold between the tile and carpet, much like his own.

The older's eyes scanned the door leading to their parents' precious lab, taking note of the way there was a dent in the middle of the spectral-proof metal. Really, why make the door ghost proof but not the walls? Maybe it was because they hadn't put in the new door until after ghosts started showing up in Amity… Come to think of it, had any of their pre-portal machines even worked at all? They were all based on theory, weren't they? Something to think about later.

Danny was stirred from his thoughts as Jazz started advancing towards the door, fingers trailing lightly over the blast marks as her quaint flats stepped on the cold metal of the stairs. Danny jogged across the kitchen to join his older sister, walking closely behind her as the hairs on his neck and arms stood up straight. It made goosebumps erupt all over his arms, which he hastily ran his hands over in an effort to get them to go away. They did, after a moment.


	9. The Portal,

"Do you feel that?" Danny whispered. He didn't really know why he did so, maybe because the room was so still and silent to begin with? Their footsteps were the only sound in the place, after all. Wait, did that mean..?

"Yeah," Jazz said quietly, tone airy as if she was lost in thought. The ceiling began to slope upwards a bit more and in a flash the pair were standing at the foot of the stairs, almost awe-struck by the destruction present.

There was green goop splattered across almost every surface, glowing and giving the lab an eerie glow. Shattered beakers littered the floor and dumped their contents onto the metal floor, which was almost clear of debris except for around one table. Something that must've looked like an invention was sitting on the table, but the metal pieces were bent and charred in some places. For some reason, it seemed familiar, but Danny couldn't quite place his finger on it.

As the two ran their eyes over the devastation of the lab, Danny realized something with almost a tear. The ghost portal sat at the other end of the lab, its doors firmly shut, but intact. As soon as Danny saw it he took off sprinting across the room, using quick bursts of flight to maneuver over the wreckage. He jammed his thumb onto the sensor on the nearby workstation, eyes practically glittering when the swirling green depths opened up within the caution-patterned doors. It wasn't broken! All of Danny's anxieties drifted away as he stared into the portal, the color of his eyes shifting to match. Danny felt some sort of… 'connection' at that moment. All of the weariness from the day dripped off, leaving him feeling more energized than he could remember.

"Um, Danny? Are you ok?" The halfa's gaze snapped away from the inter-dimensional portal to his sister, whose flaming orange locks were turned an odd green from the portal's light, coupled with the glow which had already been present.

"Uh- yeah, yeah! I'm fine. I was just worried." Before, when he had been doubting the state of the portal, it felt weird, imagining it gone. It almost felt like a part of him would be missing, which would kind of be true. Though it isn't exactly normal to have a portal to another dimension full of your enemies sitting in the basement of your house. Then again, Danny's not exactly normal either, now is he?

A smile lit his features as he turned his gaze back to the portal. The swirls were so inviting, energizing. It's almost like it was trying to break itself free of the wall, trying to reach for him and pull the halfa into its depths. Like inside was where he belonged, why did he try to be human? Why not give in, ghost life was so much easier, he belonged there just as much as he did in the human realm-

"We should get going," Jazz pointed out, grasping Danny's wrist and pulling him from the workstation. She pushed him ahead before slamming her own thumb down upon the scanner, the doors shutting and locking, sealing the other dimension away until the time came for it to be reopened. They were already clambering up the steps before Danny could snap out of his trance.

"Geez, stop pushing." He said annoyingly, pulling himself to the right side of the stairs. He ran his hands over his arms, shoulders rising towards his neck as he tried to wipe away the goosebumps that had formed. Jazz looked up at him from his left side, eyes full of concern. She was still looking at him worriedly when the two emerged into their mess of a kitchen.

"I'm fine, Jazz. Okay? I was just glad the portal's fine." The halfa turned his back on Jazz and started making his way towards the door, his look souring as he spotted just how much of a mess there was in their previously clean kitchen. Guess who would be assigned to clean up when the older Fentons came back home? Him.

Thinking of the kitchen reminded Danny of food, and he made a detour to the stairs to grab the pizza. Its smell was intoxicating and made Danny's stomach grumble. A small lighted up his features as he looked down at it and realized he'd get to eat soon. It hadn't been that long since lunch, school only ended an hour ago, but flying from a hospital to a pizza place, and having to fly home could take a lot out of a person, even if flying seemed effortless.

Soon the siblings were off and into the air, Jazz holding the pizza this time. Danny felt his strength waning quickly, and hastened his flight. It would do no good to fall out of the sky, and while he might be okay, Jazz surely wouldn't be. The halfa watched the scenery as the ground flashed past, and had a moment of disbelief. He was flying, as in there was nothing but himself keeping him in the air. He was living out every kid's dream, he was soaring through the air and yet he treated it as normal. But was it really so odd? It kind of was his normal now, having powers. It might have only been about a year since the accident, give or take a few months. It would be his birthday soon, wouldn't it? Time flies, especially if you throw Clockwork out a window. The fourteen-year old's lips turned up into a grin and he let his eyes shut, just feeling the wind pass over him and tousle his hair in its breeze. But then his eyes snapped open again as he felt Jazz shiver.

"Are you okay?" The teen asked, his eyes now being the ones full of concern.

"Just cold," another shiver ran down her spine and Danny tried to push some warmth out at her from his core. His aura brightened and Jazz let out a sigh of relief.

"You should've done that earlier." Jazz smiled ruefully and tucked closely into her younger brother's arms, pizza being held in one of her own.

 **Hello there, readers!**

 **I really am sorry for not being able to stick to my schedule, and to make it a bit easier I am going to switch to shorter chapters. At least 1,000 words per, instead of 2,000. Sorry,**

 **This story is kinda dragging on, without much humor, which I'm horrible at writing. I'm going to try and get to the point already, and yes there is something that is going to happen, and soon.**

 **I absolutely love your reviews and please keep leaving them! But if you don't want to, I can't force your hand. I just want you to know they mean a lot to me, and so does your reading this story! I hope I can make it more enjoyable as my writing skills get better. Thanks for sticking around!**


	10. Guilt

Danny went intangible, and Jazz shivered again. He would've said sorry, but he didn't want to alert anyone as the two entered the building through the walls. The halfa shot straight towards the elevator, seeing that no one was inside before letting himself -and Jazz, by extension- return to the tangible plain. Danny set Jazz down and she groaned as her joints cracked and stretched her back. The halfa turned human and took the pizza from Jazz's hands, and just in time, too.

The doors opened and a kindly old woman entered. She was vaguely familiar, for some reason. As she boarded, the smell of perfume joined the propane-like smell of ectoplasm that was quickly dissipating, now that Danny had reverted. It reminded Danny of the time his parents had gone on one of their few date nights, and Maddie had stunk up the bathroom with a very similar scent. It brought memories from a simpler time into Danny's mind. Said halfa turned the pizza box invisible and intangible in his split second of thought, awkwardly holding his hands behind his back. His hands were intangible as well if only so he could keep his grasp on the pizza. Luckily the perfume masked the smell of grease and utter _deliciousness_ that made Danny's mouth water. Somehow the box was still warm in his hands. A chill swept through the elevator as he did so, and the two women in the elevator shivered and adjusted their coats. Jazz stepped forward whilst zipping her coat, now standing beside the lady in front of the button board.

"How has your day been?" Jazz asked the lady kindly as they both went to push their floor button. Jazz let the woman go first, even though she was headed to the third floor, and it would take longer to get there. The buttons were a metal that was cold to the touch, a circle like a ripple on water spread from the middle to the edges. The only thing disturbing the lines were the numbers, which were etched into each and highlighted in black so as to stand out.

"Mine has been fine, how about yours?" The lady had a sparkle in her eye, one that told of her inner youth. She smiled with teeth that were too straight and white to ever be natural, but the grin was endearing all the same. Jazz sent her a kind smile return.

"Could be better." There was a painful note in her tone that reminded Danny just what the situation was. He had been so focused on his own problems that he hadn't really thought about the state his parents were. It hit him like a freight train as he realised that one, or even both, of his parents, could've lost their lives. It made him vaguely wonder if they'd come back as ghosts, but that idea was quickly dashed. After all, what 'unfinished business' could they possibly have?

Jazz kept up the pleasantries and small talk with the frail, old woman until she departed at her own floor, waving politely back at them with sparkling blue eyes and half-moon bifocals. The door closed behind her and Jazz's gaze darted towards Danny. She noticed his pale face and took a huge step, crossing the elevator in a single bound and setting a hand on Danny's shoulder.

"What's wrong?" She asked in that same whiny, high-pitched tone that Danny _knew_ and _loved, so very much._ It broke his heart to even think of her being gone, which was the torture his own mind sent his way as Jazz kneeled and wrapped her arms around Danny, pushing his head into her shoulder like when she would carry him as a sleepy toddler.

The comfort made Danny want to curl into a ball. It was all his fault, wasn't it? His parents could've _died,_ and it was all because of a stupid mistake he'd made a year ago. He'd been so innocent, but also so lazy, stubborn, independent, and selfish. He'd like to believe that he'd changed, that the 'ish' in that word had finally turned to 'less,' but even that didn't make him feel better. That word described him exactly, didn't it? The word less could work in so many parts of his life -less intelligent, less punctual, less _human_. The tears rose to meet his vision before he knew it, and the pizza dropped forlornly to the floor as his arms favoured to wrap around his older sister. Here he was again, putting his own well-being first. Nothing really had changed from a year ago. Still selfish.

" _Zo kzkl woy,"_ He cried, impossible words somehow forming on his tongue in his moment of distress. If Jazz noticed, she said nothing of the chill sent down her spine. Danny sure didn't,

" _Zo xckxdkl,"_ Those two words he repeated over and over, shaking his head and letting the tears flow. He really had needed this, a chance to let everything out. But his guilty conscience only told him he was making it worse, he was only shifting some of the weight from his worries onto someone else's shoulders, he was bringing Jazz down.

The doors opened with a ding, and Jazz nearly leapt out of her skin. Danny joined her, startled by the sound and the hiccup which left his lips in a gasp of blue air. The guilt only deepened in his core as he thought about how he was in no shape to help anyone.

" _Zo mcwkl hdh..,"_ Danny said, squirming in Jazz's hold. The older didn't need to know what he said to know what he was doing.

"Oh no you don't." She said sternly, scooping both her brother and the pizza into her arms. Danny protested, but the halfa turned the box invisible almost on instinct if you could call something he'd been doing for the past few minutes that. His words rang clearly in his mother tongue. It seemed that the jolt of English had snapped him back into the same dialect. He kept squirming and protesting, complaining about ghosts - _Ever so secretive, when was the last time he told the truth?_ \- in code, of course. Jazz was having none of it, and didn't set Danny down until they were at the door and she was pushing him in.

 **Extra chapter to make further up for it! (And I got really inspired and couldn't wait.)**


	11. Awkward Encounters

"Smells good," Jack was sitting up in his bed, mouth practically watering as the minors of the Fenton Family walked in the door. Right as they entered Danny had turned the pizza visible. It would be quite odd for pizza boxes to materialize in his arms. The known halfa in the room was looking around, trying to figure out where he could set the pizzas. His mom spotted what he was doing and offered the table by her bed. Danny thanked her and set it up, with the pizzas box set out -still warm, by some miracle- and the smaller box for the garlic bread beside it. Then he rolled it around until it was between his parents' beds, and his dad was practically falling out of his bed to lean closer and smell it.

-The Next Morning-

Danny's eyes opened blearily and he immediately wished that they hadn't. He was sore all over, and at first, he thought it was just because he'd had a fight he couldn't recall. That happened every once in a while when the halfa was super tired, mostly around midterm exam time. The first time it happened he woke up to his ghost sense and had grabbed his thermos. Imagine his surprise as he phased out of his window and saw that there was a ghost inside. Skulker had been extra mad the next day.

What tipped Danny off that this was not the case, was a large snore. The sound felt like it was right in his ear, whereas when Danny finally looked around he saw his Dad all the way on the other side of the room. That was curious as well, he wasn't in his own bed? Events crashed into Danny's memory and he groaned, rolling onto his side and curling into a blanket which must've been draped over him as he slept on the cramped loveseat. A glance showed that the teen's head was resting on his jacket and The Price Is Right was playing on the tv. In addition, Danny took note that he wasn't the only one awake.

"Mornin'," Danny greeted as he looked through crusty eyes to see his mom sitting up in her bed. He wiped away the stuff in the corner of his eyes and sat up a bit straighter, glad to see that his mom was alright. They'd really had him worried yesterday, and still, anxiety picked at the edges of his sleep-deprived mind.

"Good morning," Maddie smiled back. She reached for the remote on the nightstand and turned down the TV's volume.

"Sleep well?" She asked. Danny noticed Jazz curled up at the edge of Maddie's bed as his vision cleared. Now that was adorable. Jazz could barely fit on the bed, and her head was just about hanging off. Her hair was a mess and looked like it'd need to be brushed for like an hour to get all of the knots out of it. Danny wished- no, nope. No wishes are ever to be made in Amity Park. Nuh-uh, not while Desiree could be hiding somewhere.

"Like a baby," Danny said with a tone of sarcasm, stretching to get the sleep out of his bones. They snapped, crackled, and popped as the halfa turned this way and that. Maddie only rolled her eyes and turned back to the TV. The room was silent for a moment longer as Danny settled back into the seat, adjusting to a more comfortable position and being careful of his sore muscles.

"I love you, Mom," Danny said out of the blue. Even he didn't know why he said it.

"I love you too, Danny," His Mom smiled and confused lavender eyes met almost equally confused blue ones.

"Where did that come from?" She added. Danny shrugged, not entirely sure what to answer. His words came out with barely any thought.

"I guess you just scared me yesterday, is all." He rubbed his neck and shifted, the blue blanket pooling around his waist. Someone won a new car in the background.

"I'm sorry, honey." Maddie apologized. With that, they settled into a more comfortable silence. Eventually, Jazz and Jack woke up, and the short encounter was all but forgotten.

A few days passed, and the Fenton parents were discharged. As soon as they got home, Jack settled on the couch while Maddie made a beeline for the lab. She was horrified of the mess and set to cleaning it right away. Danny helped to clean the more... 'hard to reach' areas whenever Maddie took a break and went to bed.

After a while, the Fentons fell back into their usual rhythm. Jack and Maddie spent a lot of time in the lab, Jazz spent a lot of time at the library or with her small group of friends, and Danny constantly got in trouble for being home late. But what really got on his parents' nerves was that he always looks so sad and _disappointed_ whenever he did it. He would promise never to do it again, but then pull the exact same stunt the next night.

Or at least that was what his parents thought. And Danny knew this. He knew that, to them, his behaviour an anomaly. But it wasn't his fault that Skulker seemed to try something new each week, or that Amorpho seemed to be darting all over town, with some objective that Danny could only hope to find out. This was part of the reason why he was absolutely exhausted the night Jazz said at dinner that they should start doing more things together as a family. It'd only been about two or three weeks since the lab explosion, and that had seemed to get Jazz's psychologist mind focused not only on Danny more often, but the Fentons as a whole.

Maddie, of course, had agreed immediately. Se brought the point that they all spent almost all of their time in their own rooms or, in her case, the lab. Needless to say, Danny was less than pleased as he sat down beside the coffee table, on the scratchy carpet, he might add, with a monopoly game sitting in front of him. His mom, dad, and Jazz joined soon afterwards. Jazz had assigned herself to banker, which Danny had kind of wanted to do but he figured it was just more math- his worst subject- and he wasn't about that.

"So who's going first?" Jazz said with her chipper attitude and signature smile. Danny shrugged and said nothing. It wasn't to say he didn't like Monopoly, he just wasn't in the mood. Water companies and free parking just weren't all that tempting. He'd much rather play Doomed in his own room.

"Whoever rolls the highest number," Maddie suggested. There was a murmur of agreement all around and the dice were passed, starting at Jazz, then Jack, then Danny. Finally, it was Maddie's turn. She was just about to roll when Danny was distracted by a chill. The sensation stole his breath away for a fraction, making him shiver in his seat on a couch cushion he'd snagged.

"Oh, butterfingers." Maddie apologized and Danny vaguely heard the sound of the dice hitting the carpet. But that wasn't where his attention was drawn. How had she even dropped them, anyway? Danny stretched out his senses as far as they would go, using his own energy to detect any foreign ones. But he didn't have to worry long as a ghost darted over the table, through the house and phased through the wall. Danny sighed and rubbed his eyes after seeing it was just Boxy. His parents, however, were a bit more invested than he was.

Honestly, how had Jazz expected to be able to get them to go back to the game after that? The Fenton Parents had been out the door and changed from comfy clothes- at least in their Mom's case, Jack _slept_ in that suit- and were armed to the teeth before sprinting out the door two minutes later saying not to wait up for them, and go on to bed whenever they wanted.

The door slammed shut and Danny groaned, getting from his place on the floor.

"You're going after them, aren't you?" Jazz asked as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. Which, at that point, it might as well have been.

"It's just Boxy." Danny shrugged as he called up his transformation. All it took was a mental tug on the ghost core in his chest and Danny Fenton had been turned into Phantom yet again. And while it was usually a crime to turn someone into a ghost, that didn't really apply to Danny's life.

"I'll be back in five, just you see," Danny announced after he had already dived halfway through the wall.

"Thermos!" Jazz shouted and Danny turned back around with a green blush, a thank-you, and a sibling-like flick to the forehead from his sister. But don't be concerned, the teen left Jazz a raspberry in return before plunging through the solid wall yet again. Jazz rolled her eyes and set to cleaning up the game pieces.


	12. Only an Annoyance

Outside, it was raining cats and dogs. Thunder boomed and lightning crackled across the cloud-ridden sky. Crinkling his nose with a thought that Boxy's escapades better not get him sick, Danny set off. It was actually quite easy to find his parents. The squealing tires and curses being tossed into the night air were enough of a trail. How had Jack not had his license taken away yet? Not that the police in town did much anyways. Crime had literally plummeted, and it wasn't like the town was worth much. All the repair costs took care of that.

Danny's ghost sense went off as he neared, though it wasn't the same as when he usually sensed Boxy. His chest seized up and the breath billowed out of his mouth in a great wave of air. Usually it was only a puff. It was weird and made the teen wonder if Boxy had gotten a hold of Pandora's box again, because the larger his breath the more powerful the ghost. Danny started to get anxious, but he pushed it down as the RV came into view.

Danny felt a pang of guilt when he saw the RV swerve around a set of cones on the road surrounding a dent in the concrete that was eerily Danny-shaped. That had really hurt, but Danny felt more sorry for the construction guys having to work in the rain. The teen shivered at the feeling of the wind and rain blowing straight through him. It was still weird to fly in a downpour, even after having the ability for so long. The novelty of it never wore off though, and Danny did a loop in the air just because he could. It still amazed him some days that he could go straight through objects, and defy gravity. Despite his shivering, Danny smiled. Maybe he was still a kid at heart.

Danny was shaken out of his musings by yells.

The RV was off on the side of the road, one wheel on the curb and parking cockeyed as heck. His parents had seemingly stumbled out of the vehicle, each taking aim -at varying levels of skill- at the Box Ghost. Even from almost 50 feet in the air, Danny could make out their faces. Both of their expressions looked like Boxy had personally murdered their puppy. It made Danny want to laugh out loud, did they think he was that much of a threat? He wouldn't hurt a fly, couldn't! They were taking him too seriously. But, as it was, Danny knew better than to interfere. He'd just get himself aimed at. So he turned invisible as well. With how much energy he was using he'd definitely show up on their scanners but they were probably too busy with Boxy tossing boxes at their heads.

"Beware!" He shouted as cardboard lifted into the air. Where did he even _find_ boxes in the middle of town? Danny flipped casually back onto his back. He kept an eye on the scene below, yeah, but he'd only step in if his parents hurt the Box Ghost. The rain continued to pour and Danny was starting to feel a bit winded from using his powers for so long. Flying wasn't as effortless as it looked, even though it was easier in Danny's ghost form.

Boxy dodged the shots easily, and fled when they started getting too close. The ghost turned a corner and Danny finally set off after him. His parents started back for the RV, so Danny knew he'd be out of their sight for a moment. He followed the Box Ghost towards the docks and grabbed the thermos from his belt. After forgetting it one too many times, Jazz sewed a clip onto his belt for him. She's really an awesome sister.

"Hiya there, Boxy," Danny smirked. The ghost looked appalled to see him following close behind and turned to face the halfa. He didn't even get a word in as Danny sucked him into the thermos.

"Aaand, bye Boxy." The teen buckled the thermos back onto his belt and set off for home. Danny turned invisible and intangible as he sped off. He saw the RV stuttering to a stop and turning to follow after him. The teen groaned as he saw his Mom lean out of the passenger's side window and look around wildly. Danny scrunched his nose in annoyance. Still invisible, he returned to human form. The teen stumbled in the air as his hair turned raven. Exhaustion immediately began to take hold. But at least his parents couldn't track him.

Danny hadn't realized how often his legs turned into a tail while he flew. Somehow, the wind still tore at Danny's clothes even though he was intangible. He couldn't go nearly as fast, but at least he was going faster than the RV still driving beneath him. But by the calm, precise turns he could tell his Mom was driving. His Dad only drove when they were hunting ghosts. Danny smiled at his own trick. They couldn't track him as easily in human form. At least not with the tools they had in the RV.

Danny phased into his room at the same time his parents were getting out of the RV and coming inside. The halfa sank to his feet, then to the floor. He knew that using his powers in human form was a bit harder, but staying airborne for those last few yards was like pulling teeth. After a few minutes of resting, and after the sound of voices had died down, Danny dared to venture downstairs. The stairs creaked as Danny descended, and he couldn't help but chuckled when he saw how the wood had been worn away and in a little bit on each step. For some reason it always got him that those had been caused by steps over time. It was fascinating.

Danny reached the living room to see it abandoned, but at least the game was put away. He'd have to thank Jazz tomorrow, she had no doubt gone to bed already. Danny smiled to himself as he realized that he hadn't even been close to being home past his curfew, that he wasn't in trouble that night. The teen hummed a tune as he walked through the kitchen and into the deserted lab, with intentions to release Boxy back into the GZ.


	13. Butterfingers, right?

The sounds of Danny's footfalls were hollow on the metal steps as he descended. The smell of artificial ectoplasm assaulted the teen's senses, as well. Despite being around the stuff almost since he could walk, Danny wasn't sure he would ever get used to the acrid smell that just about burned off his nose hairs sometimes. Natural ectoplasm still didn't smell very good but was a bit less metallic and a pinch saltier. But you'd be hard pressed to find it anywhere other than the ghost zone or from a ghost. Definitely not produced in a lab, and hard to find even in the Fentons' lab, which was filthy, as usual. Though you could definitely tell which parent worked where.

On the rightmost worktops, screws and bolts were each in their own labelled boxes, and wrenches were stored on a magnetic strip. In fact, the only mess on that side was the disassembled tools and weapons littering the counters. But even those each had their own set area. There were also test tubes, a few containing green ectoplasm and some with other coloured liquids. Danny didn't even want to know what was in those. A paper towel holder was screwed into the wall, and used paper towels covered in a cacophony of colours could be found crumpled up in a wastebasket. It looked like it needed to be emptied.

The left side of the almost cavernous room was a completely different story.

Artificial ectoplasm was splattered everywhere. It was dripping out of knocked over vials and conglomerating on exposed wiring. So that was where the smell was coming from. The Fenton weasel, for one, was dismantled. Its pieces were scattered. Jeez, finding anything in that disaster would be like finding Amorpho in a crowd. And Danny had tried, it was no easy feat. In fact, finding A morpho anywhere would be difficult. Searching for him was like playing prop hunt, never knowing what he'd illusion himself to be next.

The teen turned his nose up at the mess and sighed at the work he was sure would be forced upon him. His Dad always asked him to do stuff he didn't want to do, and he doubted the older would want to clean if the mess was already at such levels. But he continued on anyway, checking each invention that looked like it could possibly be able to function was turned off. He'd have to transform to get his thermos.

Flipping a few switches along the way, Danny made it to the other end of the high-ceilinged room. The portal was closed, but with a quick flurry of buttons (the password was no longer open sesame) green light flooded the lab. It made the surroundings a bit eerier, sending a shiver down Danny's spine. Or maybe he'd just sensed a ghost. Who knew? Danny transformed and unclipped the thermos from his belt. The teen's breath seemed to be the only sound in the lab as he fumbled with the thermos, still not able to remember where the right button was even after so long using the device. He found it and uncapped the thermos, taking aim at the portal. With a swoosh of air and a flash of blue light, Boxy was banished back into the Ghost Zone. Not that he'd stay there for long. The doors slammed shut a minute later. Danny picked up another tune and started humming again.

"Don't move!" An all-too-familiar voice yelled. Danny froze for a moment but whipped his head around despite the order. The sight of his mother met his eyes. She had changed into her pyjamas and was currently holding an ectogun.

Aimed straight at him.

" _Pi mhi._ " Danny breathed. His Mom shot him a look of slight confusion, but it disappeared in the blink of an eye.

"Don't shoot!" The teen said and raised his hands into the air, hopefully as a motion of peace, or at least showing that he didn't want to fight. His Mom's eyes only narrowed at him, most likely in suspicion.

"What are you doing here?" She questioned, shifting closer to the ghost she didn't know was her son. Really, did the universe hate Danny so badly? And why was everything so ironic? Not to mention where did she get the gun?! Where did she keep it? The teen didn't hear her rummaging in any drawers or anything. Know what, he didn't even want to know. He'd just need to be more careful next time.

"I was just putting the Box Ghost back in the Ghost Zone, honest!" The teen nodded to the thermos still in his right hand for emphasis.

"Have you been doing this every time you catch one of your kind, breaking into my home?" The huntress sneered. Danny didn't know what to say. He was drawing a blank.

"I'm sorry, please don't shoot," The teen's eyes were locked onto the barrel of the gun. He imagined something shooting out at the barrel at him and gulped.

But then the gun slipped straight through Maddie's fingers. Her face turned a bright shade of scarlet, though a splotch of another colour could be seen. She leant down immediately to grab it and took up her aim yet again. But her hold was a lot shakier.

"Jack!" She shouted over her shoulder. Yet her eyes were still locked onto Danny's.

The teen was at a loss for what to do. What had just happened? It seemed like the gun had almost _phased_ through her fingers. But that couldn't be right, could it? No, he must just be seeing things. He was just being delusional. Yes, he was just tired and seeing things. Or maybe there was something up with the gun? Yeah, that could be it. He didn't know what it did after all. His arms were starting to get tired by the time Danny heard a door open.

Soon his Dad had come bumbling down the steps, and the older's expression lit up.

"It happened again." Maddie said to Jack in a whisper, clearly speaking to Danny's Dad despite not looking away from the 'intruder.' Jack's expression turned sour but quickly brightened when his eyes landed on Danny -Phantom, in his eyes- again.

"What do you want from me?" The teen asked.

"We want to know why you're here." Maddie's tone was low and cold, icier than Danny had ever heard before.

"I was just putting the Box Ghost back in the Ghost Zone." The answer seemed well enough received, but the next question had Danny wracking his brain.

"How do you know the access code?" For some reason, with all the excuses Danny had compiled for almost every occasion, he hadn't thought of this one. Or maybe he forgot, but he couldn't think of anything and that was what mattered. He drew a blank.

"That's for me to know and you to find out." Nope, nope, nope, wrong answer. He shouldn't have said that, his Mom looked even more pissed. He'd been going for charming, but the sentence came out more threatening than anything. He wanted to kick himself. Maddie opened her mouth so say more but was caught off guard by something else.

Both Danny and his father gasped as Technus entered the fray. He must've somehow hacked the portal, getting it to open. But that wasn't what Danny was concerned about.

He was more worried about the fact that his Dad's eyes were glowing yellow.


	14. Technus returns!

A gasp managed to escape Danny's lips before Technus acted. With a heinous cackle, the ghost sent a glowing net Danny's way. It wrapped around the halfa's limbs in his shocked state.

"I'll have my revenge!" His voice was like nails against a chalkboard and made Danny cringe. But then someone was screaming. Oh. It was him.

The net became electrified, threatening to make Danny revert to Fenton. But he managed to power through and pushed frost from his core. The icy tendrils snaked over the green ropes, britling them. In an expulsion of energy, they shattered, sending shards hurtling through the air. Everyone around ducked as the pieces rained down. Luckily, they missed hurting anyone.

Danny collapsed on his back for a moment, catching his breath. But then he remembered that, oh yeah, he was surrounded by enemies. How fun.

The teen launched to his feet in tandem with a bit of flight to make him look cooler. He smiled inside at how all the times when he was younger he tried to do that ninja thing where he'd be on his back and roll back then launch to his feet. That was a lot of headaches. But the teen saw that no one had noticed as his eyes surveyed the scene. His Mom and Dad had pulled out an ecto-rifle and bazooka respectively. But, of course, only one of them had managed to singe Technus. The dark green mark could be seen on Technus' black coat. He looked oddly like a pilgrim, in his 2.0 form.

"I WILL AVENGE MY TECHNOLOGY!" The tech-obsessed growled, his eyes narrowing. Avenge? What could he be- oh. Had he not been back to Amity since the time Danny ran into him when the power was out? Did he think they wouldn't be able to fix it?

"Oi! Tecchie!" Danny shouted. Three pairs of eyes swivelled back to him, and Danny was glad to see that none of them were yellow. Well, he'd forgotten that. Was his Dad overshadowed? He acted normal enough. He'd have to send a push blast at him later, to see if he was or not. The halfa didn't think any ghosts he knew would have the guts to overshadow one of his parents, a ghost hunter. Except for Vlad, but at least he had a home address where Danny could face him. But how had Danny missed his own Dad being overshadowed? Maybe it was because the ghost was so convincing. But he had to save those thoughts for later.

"GHOST CHILD! WHY ARE YOU HERE?" Ugh, if Technus didn't always yell his plans Danny would probably wear earplugs for their battles. The ghost's voice was just so _grating._ And Tecchie had just attacked him, why was he only now asking why he was there? He couldn't answer anyways, secret and all. It's not like he could yell; 'I live here, dipstick!' Oh no, he was stealing _Ember's_ insults now. He really needed some new material.

"No dip, Sherlock. Just leave!" With that the halfa charged airborne headfirst, slamming his head into his adversary's gut and shoving him into the wall. Technus grunted and huffed, trying to regain his breath. Even if he didn't technically need to breathe. Who cared? But Danny gave him no chance as he grabbed Tecchie's booted foot and tossed him across the room. Technus screeched as he was sent flying. A shot from Danny's left hit Technus across the face. Now that was just uncalled for. And that only aggravated Tecchie further. He grumbled and pushed off against the opposite wall like an astronaut on a spaceship. And he was careening right for the halfa. Danny only chuckled and turned intangible, shifting to the side as much as could in case Technus turned intangible as well. But Danny didn't expect him to be that smart.

"C'mon Technus! Charging like that? That's a move that only a neanderthal without wifi would do!" Ignoring the fact that Danny had done the same a few moments ago. Nope, no mention. Danny would swear he heard something crack when Technus and the wall met. Danny returned to the tangible plain with a grin.

"Ack!" Danny exclaimed as he had to dodge fire from his left. A smoking barrel told him all he needed to know.

"I'm on your side!" The halfa exclaimed. By some miracle, his Mom changed her aim. But he doubted it would last long. Technus' expression turned even more downtrodden, and Danny knew his next move would be a hasty one. The odds were not in favour of the electrically-inclined ghost in the room. But the teen hadn't expected what would happen next.

Technus darted, hauling Danny's mom into the air, making her drop her weapon in shock.

"Maddie!" Jack yelled in genuine fright for his wife. Either the ghost overshadowing him was a really good impersonator, knew his Mom personally, or Danny had just seen incorrectly. After all, there was a lot of green light sources. But Danny just couldn't believe it.

"Drop her, Technus!" Danny was concerned, to say the least. His Mom sounded pained as Technus wrapped his limbs around her, using a chokehold. Even through her goggles, Danny could see she was uncomfortable. The huntress' arms scrabbled at the ghost's own. Oh, Technus was _dead._ The eldest Fenton looked at Danny -Phantom, to him- with a pleading look.

At that moment, Danny knew that this was his time to earn any trust he would ever get. His Dad knew he couldn't really help, what with his horrible aim, and his wife was in danger. A million words were exchanged in an instant.

How could he be overshadowed?

Danny formed a large blast in his palms and turned invisible. Technus looked around wildly and the teen halfa grinned. Danny let loose just as his Mom managed to kick Technus were the sun doesn't shine. The ghost doubled over and released his grasp. His Mom let out a short scream as she fell, but she was caught by her husband. She smiled lovingly up at him as she sat in his arms, bridal style. Danny hoped against all odds that they wouldn't kiss. It was nothing but awkward when parents kissed in front of their kids, or at least where the Fentons were concerned. But they didn't exactly know that one of their kids was in the room, did they?

With Technus keeled over Danny had no problem getting him into the Fenton Thermos. The basement turned eerily quiet after the ghost was dispensed. Danny's felt his limbs turn heavy as his adrenaline rush began to fade and he dropped to the floor. He slipped one of his gloves off and wiped the hair from his forehead. The glove gooped and melted into one of the drains in the ground, but Danny knew it would be back. Next time he transformed. One thing he had over Spiderman and all those comic superheroes, he didn't have to fix his own suit. Haha, Iron Man 0, Danny Phantom 1. Iron man was a stupid name anyways, almost as bad as Invisobill. Danny was so deep in his thoughts, and tired, that he almost reverted. But the sound of a powering up ectogun startled him.

The teen's Mom was standing over him, barrel aimed at his face. A bolt of fear curled itself around Danny's spine, dread settling like a stone in his stomach.

 **Thank you to all those reading! This is my longest going story and makes me wonder how people write entire books when I can barely bring myself to type up a thousand words for these. My friend is writing a book, and she got to 100,000 words! I've been working on this a bit on and off for about six months, and it's only at like a quarter of that. I dunno how she did it. Sorry if the style is kinda inconsistent, I'm still trying to get better for the thirty-odd of you reading this.**

 **Anyways, thanks for the reviews and follows and likes and all! I'm glad that some of you actually enjoy this mess of a story, lol ^U^**


	15. Problem Solving

"Maddie, wait," Danny's eyes darted to his Dad, who looked quite startled. He looked to still be in shock, which was understandable.

"Maybe… he can help?" He looked uneasily down at Danny, and their eyes met. Blue and green. There was no way he was overshadowed. Though the halfa hadn't seen his Dad so unsure of himself before, there was no doubt that it was him behind those eyes. Danny had to have been imagining things. His Mom turned her gaze from the teen, yet her ectogun was still aimed right between his eyes. And she was still watching him from the corner of her own.

"It's a ghost, Jack. It'd never help us, more likely to trick us instead." Danny's mom pursed her lips, and his dad looked at her imploringly. Ah, those were the puppy-dog eyes. Whatever he wanted Danny's help with was important.

"We can't figure this out on our own. And, I trust him." Those three words meant so much. They made Danny want to grin like a lunatic. Maybe, he could get his parents to stop shooting at him, maybe, he could tell them he was their son, with guaranteed acceptance. That was really all he wanted. Maybe he was being selfish, but was that so much to ask?

"I'd prefer not to be called 'it,' but how can I help?" His Mom jumped when he spoke, and she almost dropped her weapon, again. Even so, she didn't fire when Danny shifted to get to his feet, so he figured that it was fine. Jack clapped a hand on Danny's back, almost knocking him over. Nevertheless, he managed to stay upright. His Dad smiled a smile that reached all the way to the corner of his eyes, and Danny returned it; honestly, for once.

"Fine," Danny's Mom sighed, though he could still see the tension in her shoulders.

"But, I'm keeping an eye on you." She shot him an icy look as she stowed her gun into a holster at her side, still, at least that was something. Danny couldn't help, but notice, that she kept a hand on her hip, even if he knew she was just being safe. After all, he was a ghost; at least, in their eyes, he was.

A pressure on his shoulder drew the halfa's attention, and his Dad leads him to one of the workstations, motioning for him to sit on one of the stools. The elder sat on the other one across from Danny, while his wife stood behind him almost protectively, like she was standing guard. Even though that didn't stop the mother from narrowing her eyes in Danny's direction. It would take a lot more to gain her trust.

"You'd better not use anything we say against us." She snipped.

"I would never dream of it." Danny tried his best to look trustworthy, which he actually was. He'd kept the secret of being dead for quite a while now. Although it was his own secret, so maybe it didn't count, but, oh well. His Mom still didn't relax.

"We've been having..." The hunter stopped, as though searching for his words. Danny was used to the confused expression he held.

"...having ghostly traits." What could that mean? Like- his eyes? Maybe it was just from so much radiation or something.

"How so?" Danny inquired. His Mom looked like she wanted to slap his Dad, if only to get him to stop talking. Danny didn't want to pry, but his Dad looked like he was bursting to talk, to find answers to whatever was bothering him. And the teen couldn't bear to see him like that.

"Like, things will go right through my fingers while I'm trying to do stuff. Or, I'll look down, and I don't see my arm. But then, it's there the next time I look; like I was just seeing things. And- and, every time, I see a ghost, I gasp, for some reason. And, I get a hot flash." His dad stuttered along, seeming like he was glad to have this weight off his chest, however, it felt like it'd been transferred to Danny. Holy-

"Have you experienced these, too?" Danny felt like he couldn't breathe. He wanted to curse. But, he couldn't draw in the air for it.

"All except for the gasping thing... And I told you, Jack, that it's probably just a coincidence. Probably just one of your ribs still being bruised and hurting." Wait- their accident. Almost a month ago, heck.

"I think- I think I know what's the issue." Danny's glowing green eyes were clouded, and the ivory hairs on the back of his neck were standing straight up. His parents looked so relieved, even his Mom relaxed a bit. Well, here it goes. Here's hoping they believe him. Because, only after that, could he really help.

" I guess I'll start from where I assume your problems started." Danny twiddled his fingers as he refused to meet their eyes.

"When you both were sent to the hospital- about a month ago. Were you working on something with a ghost portal?" He really wanted them to say no. If his suspicions were correct, it could alter all of their lives.

"I don't see how that should matter, and I don't even want to know how you know that." The teen's mom scoffed, though she pulled up a chair for herself, nonetheless.

"Yeah." Despite his tone, the inventor looked so hopeful.

"My best guess would be that it turned you both… half-ghost." Laughter was the only response at first. Danny's gaze snapped to his Mom, who looked like she'd just been told the funniest joke in the world. Or she finally understood memes, even though that would never happen. A green blush dotted Danny's cheeks, reaching all the way to the tips of his ears.

"I'm not joking! Everything you guys have told me is the same stuff I went through! Things would slip through my fingers, my eyes would start glowing, my hand would turn invisible, I sensed the first ghost I ever saw, and- and I transformed randomly!" Danny had knocked his chair over at some point. The laughter died after it fell, and Danny's hands curled into fists.

How could she not believe him? Her own son- not that she knew that. Besides, he was just trying to help! He'd wished for someone to help when he was stumbling through, trying not to phase into the floor every time he took a step. He'd wanted someone to teach him, though if only they weren't evil, like Vlad. Sam and Tucker had tried their best, but it wasn't the same.

"You're only a half-ghost?" Danny sank back into his chair after he realised what he'd said. He'd have to tell them now- he was sure of it. Nevertheless, he'd hold onto his secret as long as he could. The teen sighed before speaking again.

"Yeah. I have a human form, too." Now that he was the aim of the conversation, Danny realised he was uncomfortable talking about it. Like, telling his parents finally put it into the perspective that he was half dead. He was only fourteen, and he had cool powers, sure, but some of his humanity was gone. He wasn't a whole anymore, and Danny's heart ached for the normalcy he'd had before that stupid portal turned on. He loved the new adventure, however, it was starting to grate on him. And, now that it was looking him in the face, it was that more prominent.

"Can you show us?" His Dad asked, his tone tilting upwards in anticipation. Danny steeled his resolve before lifting his head.

"No, but I can tell you how I do it." He didn't trust them enough yet. Maybe. this way they wouldn't find out. Danny noticed that his Mom was being awfully quiet, and looked over to see her with her head in her hands, looking off somewhere over his shoulder. But, his Dad was watching him, waiting for Danny to say something else.

"You know about cores, right?" A nod, and a look of curiosity.

"I just kinda tug on my core when in human form. I feel at it, and then, I kind of feel it come to life. It gives me a rush of energy, and then the energy goes out to make these rings that circle around me and change me to Phantom form from my normal self."

"And you're saying that I can do this as well?" Danny nodded, and his Dad scrunched up his face. All was silent for a moment, until lights began flickering to life. Orange-tinted, white rings formed at the elder's centre, making Danny jump. His Mom pushed her rolling chair back suddenly and stared at her husband with wide blow pupils. Danny felt a bit of a cool air rush past him as he saw his own Dad turn into a ghost right before his own eyes. Danny briefly entertained the thought that maybe they could go flying together, sometime. That'd be fun, to have someone to share the skies with. But the idea dissipated as he got to see the extent of the eldest Fenton's newest form.

His hair turned white, much like Danny's, with the normal bit of white at the nape of his neck, changing to an inky hue. His skin stayed much the same colour, yet it was his suit that changed the most. The black once again turned to ivory, but the familiar mass of orange had transitioned to an almost sky-blue shade. The elder Halfa then opened his eyes, which were a shocking neon yellow. Now, that explained it.

 **IT FINALLY HAPPENED! MUAHAHAHAHA!**

 **Believe it or not (you probably will) Jack and Maddie becoming halfas was the entire premise of this story, and the thing I've been working towards for seven months now! I'm glad it's finally revealed!** **I know at least one of you expected this, but I hope it's still a surprise!  
**

 **Credit to Anomalous123 for beta-ing this chapter!**

 **The story isn't over!**


	16. Explanations and Intangibilty

"What the fudge?!" The elder halfa was looking intently at his hands, probably noting the glow around each of his fingers.

"Wow." Danny breathed. Deep down, he hadn't expected to be right. But know it was staring him in the face.

And frankly, he was kind of scared.

It might not have been that big of a deal that he was half-dead, now that this something else was brought to light. He could still live his life normally enough. But these were his parents. The two people who had taken it upon themselves to raise him and take care of him, to deal with all of his tantrums and comfort him when he got hurt. And they were part _dead._ Danny didn't even want to think of them being full dead. He'd had enough of that for a lifetime. But for now, he had to focus on the matter at hand. Explaining what had happened and keeping his Dad from freaking out.

"That's your ghost form, you can switch back and forth at will. And if you get exhausted you'll revert back to human. Though after a while you can gain more stamina. It's like working a muscle, and a core is kinda like a new muscle." Danny wasn't quite sure that his dad had heard the explanation, because he was _suddenly sinking into the ground-_

Danny darted forward and turned his hand intangible, illogically now able to grab his Dad's own intangible hand. When he was up on his feet again Danny sighed a breath of relief and returned to the material plane. Seemingly he had tired himself out because no sooner had the father sat down on the stool had he changed back to his human form.

Danny's mom immediately pounced on him, worrying over him and making sure that her husband wasn't going to die on her. Or at least not more than he already had. Danny floated down from where he was accidentally floating to sit back on the stool he had previously occupied. He blew a lock of white hair out of his face as he waited to be addressed, either to be questioned or asked to leave. Geez, his hair was getting long. He might have to borrow some of Jazz's ponytail holders if it got much longer. His parents hadn't been the most attentive lately, especially in the past month, but now at least Danny knew why. It was confusing to figure out on your own that you were a halfa.

"Phantom, how come you can stay like that for so long?" Oh, his Dad was asking.

"I'm just in ghost form a lot, I guess." He shrugged. He wanted to keep the amount of info he'd given them to a minimum. The less they knew, the better chance he had of keeping his secret until they were ready to hear it. Which, if he was being honest, they would definitely find out eventually. Now they knew how halfa's worked and even if it changed their attitude towards their now fellow ghosts a bit, they would no doubt still be intrigued by him.

"How do we know you're really a 'halfa' and not just a ghost hoodwinking us?" His Mom had that glint in her eye, the same one her expression held whenever she thought he was lying to her. Which he did disappointingly often.

The youngest halfa knew one way to show them, transforming. Even if it was only partway. But if they saw his clothes… he'd have to change later when he went back up to his room. But he'd try using his words first. Maybe play dumb.

"I dunno, how do you think?" The teen asked. His mom was seeming to think long and hard about it.

"How do you control going intangible?" His Dad asked with a slight whine in his voice. He was starting to sink into his chair. Danny hauled him back up by his arm again. It was kind of laughable, now that Danny saw it from the third person. No wonder Tuck had laughed his pants off when Danny accidentally dropped his own in front of Paulina. That was a horrible day and reminded Danny of how he learned to overshadow. He made a decision to not tell his parents about _that_ power. Especially if he was revealed. That was a grounding waiting to happen.

"It could be different for you, but I just try to convince myself that whatever arm or whatever I'm trying to phase isn't there, that it can't interact with anything. Or I used to a while ago, now it's more second nature. The reverse is also true." Danny smiled ruefully as he saw his Dad screw up his face and managed to turn his arm intangible at will! That was a lot better than Danny had first done. But then again he hadn't had a teacher. Or at least one that wasn't an insane fruitloop.

"Huzzah!" The eldest Fenton exclaimed, making Danny chuckle. He'd floated from his seat at some point, and felt surprisingly comfortable floating in front of his Dad and telling him about ghost stuff. Just like Jack had always wanted, even if this was a pretty roundabout way of doing it. That reminded Danny of a show Tuck had suggested a few days ago. He'd have to look it up after all this. Seeing as his Mom let him go. As it was, she was sitting stoically off to the side. She'd retrieved her rolling chair at some point and was staring uncomfortably intensely at the wall right behind Danny. He shifted at the look, but soon his Dad's giddiness had overwhelmed the gloom being broadcasted from a certain red-head Fenton. And not Jazz.

"You don't want to tell us who you are, do you?" There she was. Hit it right on the head. But that was what Danny was afraid of.

"No. Because I don't want to put myself at risk if you change your mind and decide that I'm nothing more than a ghost with a home address." Not to mention that that address was the same as theirs, but oh well. What he said was part of the truth, and Danny briefly remembered someone saying something about how his Dad couldn't catch a ghost if it was living under their own roof. Well, joke's on them, now there were three. Even if his Mom didn't want to transform yet. He could only guess at her reasoning, but he sure it was sound. Thinking about how his Mom was always right reminded Danny of how she'd once talked about becoming a nurse. Though that was before she met his Dad and switched to the engineering track at their school in Wisconsin. It was a much better solution than letting them know that their son had half-died before them. Maybe...

"I still have a heartbeat, if that's enough proof." His Mom nodded to herself and got up from her seat.

"Of course, ghosts don't have a heartbeat- Mind if I check?" Danny doubted he had _that_ much of a choice. Considering she was already rummaging around the lab first aid kit. Danny'd had to restock the thing a few times when his own stuff ran low -not to mention the sheer amount of hello kitty and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle band-aids his Dad used. Seriously, he was a grown man. But he'd always been childish, and Danny loved him no matter what. And seeing him happy and not all depressed that he'd turned half-ghost made Danny happy too.

"Nope." He tried his best to smile genuinely at his Mom and she drifted back over with stethoscope in hand. The metal was a bit chilled, due to the cold temperature in the lab, but wasn't that bad. It actually felt pretty good, what with Danny having an ice core and all that. It reminded him that he wanted to go on a flight tonight. Well, that wasn't gonna happen.

As Danny saw his Mom stick the earbud-like ends of the instrument into his ears, he thought of just how much changed in that one night. The changes that his parents been through especially striking. It was shocking that they'd gotten from aiming guns at his head to taking his advice and being comfortable enough to actually touch him.

Danny had a sneaking suspicion it had something to do with something Skulker had spewed one time while they were 'fighting.' Really it was more like Skulkie's weekly therapy session if nothing else. The teen had sure learned enough from Jazz. She was always whispering something in his ear. But he'd never let her know that he'd used that info once or twice to get Skulker and Ember or Johnny and Kitty back together. If they were focused on each other, they weren't bothering him. And that was a godsend.

But once Skulker had yelled about how Ember had broken their bond. To spare the details, Danny managed to get the robot to tell him that ghosts had families, like future Box Ghost, Lunch lady, and Box Lunch. The same was true for Skulker and Ember, but since they were not blood (or ectoplasm) related or mated -Danny didn't even want to know what that meant- the bond could be broken. And that family members were always happiest around their other family, and the vicinity kind of gave them a power boost. Like how in dnd a character can get a boost or advantage from being so close to an ally.

"Would you please stop doing that?" His Mom asked annoyedly. Danny stapped from his thoughts.

"What do you mean?"

"Something in your chest is rumbling like a cat purring." She sounded cross. Danny had no idea what she was talking about until he felt it- a soft vibration from his core. The feel was making everything feel nice, like when a cat sits on you and starts purring itself to sleep. It felt so good that Danny took a minute before trying to figure out how to stop it.

"I don't purr." The teen stated matter-of-factly as he figured out how to stop the rumbling. It was definitely not a purr.


	17. Too Much Excitement

"Well you definitely have a heartbeat. Which makes me question, do your parents know you're like this?" Danny recognized the change in his Mom's posture. It was the same attitude she took on when he broke his arm that one time. It was her protective look, which was _really_ odd to be seeing while he was in his ghost form. Though not entirely unexpected.

In a way he _could_ say yes to her question… but was that really true? If he said kinda she would probe further into his 'personal life', and he wasn't ready to tell her he's her son yet. Best to say no and listen to whatever she had to say than be grilled about what he meant. Yeah, that made sense.

"No, not really," The teen averted his gaze, not daring to meet her eyes. She sighed deeply and Danny could perfectly conjure up the exact face he was sure she was making. His Mom could be really predictable at times. But he loved her nonetheless, despite her hovering.

"You really should tell them. I know I'm not your mother and I can't tell you what to do, but you really should. They're probably worried." Mom's expression twisted to confusion, like she didn't know why she was saying what she was. She actually _was_ his mother, but it wasn't like Danny would tell her that. Not yet, at least. That would wait. For a long time, if Danny got his way. They might not listen to his advice and doubt him if they knew he's their kid. It was already a risk that his looked a lot like him in ghost form, and they'd probably just assumed it was a halfa thing. He'd keep it that way.

"I will eventually." He finally met her eyes. Yep, it was the look. Her eyebrows were creased and the corners of her mouth were downturned, pulling on the few wrinkles she had.

"Speaking of, I should probably go home." His parents did probably think he was upstairs asleep, but it was a good excuse to get out of here. He'd have a lot to think about, and it was doubtful that he'd get to sleep at a good time.

"Would you mind... Dropping in sometime?" His Dad asked uneasily from where he was trying to get his hand to turn intangible on purpose. It seemed like he'd already found his favorite power. It was pretty handy.

"Sure, I want to help you guys with figuring everything out. I can stop by after school tomorrow." Danny smiled up at his Dad, who despite sitting still towered over the almost fifteen-year old. Yeah, it'd be his birthday in just a few weeks. It was _so_ weird to think about. This time last year he hadn't thought he'd make it to Christmas. When he first got his powers… it'd been a dark time.

"I'd love if you could." Dad visibly brightened, literally. His white hair gained a more poofy look and his yellow eyes were almost too bright to look at. Not to mention his aura. Really, his dad was like an overexcited pup sometimes. Like Cujo, and Danny loved him all the more for it. It was refreshing.

"You have to finish all of your homework and all that before you come here. With all the ghost fights I can't imagine your grades are doing well." Jeez, she was still being his Mom without even realizing.

"I'm more responsible than I seem." Oh that was a _lie._ A yellow-toothed, bold-faced, pants on fire lie. But she didn't need to know that. All it earned was an eyeroll, and Danny took that as a cue to leave. But first he had to know something.

"Should I go to the front door or..?" Even though technically this was his house too, Danny didn't want to do anything to upset this uneasy truce they had arranged. All it took was telling them he'd a halfa- who knew? Well, Jazz did, but she's just Jazz. His parents looked at each other and seemed to have a silent conversation with just their eyes. No fair, that was his, Sam, and Tucker's thing.

"Just knock on the lab door, invisible if you would. We don't want to tell our kids yet, and they'd probably freak out if they saw you just appear in the house." Mom spoke. If Jazz saw him she'd just ask what the heck he's doing. If they didn't want Jazz to know, though, there was no way he would tell her. It was just another secret, what's the worst that could happen? Actually there was a lot that could happen. But Danny didn't have the capacity to think through all of them. Really, there was already so much he'd have to think through and surely there were some implications of this all that hadn't hit him yet.

Danny nodded and said his goodbyes -telling his Dad how to change back meanwhile- before flying up and phasing through the ceiling. He came out in the kitchen, and reverted to human form, dropping his intangibility as he did so.

The teen's stomach growled, and when he turned to the fridge he caught a glimpse of the clock on the oven. Three in the morning! Heck, there was school tomorrow! And it was a Friday, which meant tests. He'd just meant to pop down for a few minutes to let the ghosts go and had stayed down there for an hour instead. Suddenly his eyelids felt like lead, wanting to roll shut. The teen decided that food could wait, and walked as fast as he dared in his fog to his room. Danny's head hit the pillow and he was out like a light, forgetting to even close his door. His lamp shone a golden hue, illuminating the room and casting faint shadows upon the navy walls.

 **Hello y'all!**

 **I'm really sorry for such a big break between chapters. I have marching band after school, so I don't get home until like six. Not to mention football games.**

 **I have a vague idea of what's going on going forward, but now when I look back on old chapter I cringe, and wonder what the heck was I thinking. I might go back and add or remove some things from old chapters, nothing plot related just scenes that are too much like filler or just awkward. Like when Jazz and Danny go to get pizza. No idea what i was thinking. Anyway, I'll put a notice at the beginning of a chapter if i change it, and put it in the next chapter's author note as well. Or I might never do it at all. Who knows?**


	18. Thoughts Can be Frightening

Nothing much happened that Friday. Danny almost failed a math quiz, lost a Kahoot, and had to ask a teacher for a bandaid for a paper cut from Boxy, who just _had_ to show up at some point. The guy probably spent more time in Amity Park than the Ghost Zone. Come to think of it, Danny didn't even know if the guy had a house, or wherever he lived. He probably just roamed around, trying to amass more 'cardboard armies.'

Danny had basically forgotten about meeting with his parents as Phantom on Saturday. In fact, he only remembered when he stopped at the front door and his ghost sense went off. He walked into the house and saw his Dad on the couch. Their eyes met and his dad looked half-panicked. Danny could still see a blue haze around his dad's head. There was an awkward moment where they just stared at each other. Danny broke the awkwardness as soon as he could.

"I've got homework, so I'll be in my room if you need me." He started up the stairs and saw his Dad visible melt in relief from the corner of his eye. Maybe he was just as gullible as his parents because he couldn't believe he hadn't noticed anything was up for an entire month. At the least, Dad was really obvious about it. It would only be a matter of time for Jazz to sniff out what was going on, but Danny wasn't going to be the one to tell her.

Danny actually _did_ have homework to do, and mercifully the ghosts stayed at bay long enough for him to get his maths done. Sadly, his luck ran out at about six o'clock. _Just_ as he had gotten started on his English project. His ghost sense went off, and within a few minutes, he had changed forms and was floating through the sky. The novelty of it would never wear off, he was sure of it. If only he didn't only fly when he was about to face a ghost. Maybe he should do it for fun more often.

Danny floated out to see… Amorpho? What was he doing here? Last he'd checked, Danny had told him to stay away. But the shape-shifter wasn't attacking anyone or anything, so Danny flew up to him. His legs melted into a tail behind him and a small shiver went up his spine. It always tickled when they did that.

"Billy! Just the guy I was hoping to see." How was it that Amorpho could smile, even without a mouth? The dude was just so creepy. He looked like Slenderman.

"I've told you already, it's Danny, not Billy. I thought I told you to stay out of my town?" Danny crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes. At the stop, his legs reformed and he stood tall upon an imaginary floor. Intimidation.

"Let's just say I've gotten… _bored_ of the human world. I was hoping for permission to use your portal. I do not seek a fight." Amorpho held his hands up, in a form of surrender.

There was no way he didn't have something more planned. Though, Danny didn't know him all that well. All he knew about Amorpho was that he loved pranks, and almost never cared for those he bothered. Which made this case odd. Or maybe the guy had finally learned his lesson? Doubtful.

"Why are you asking when before you didn't care about stepping on other people's toes?"

"I care because unlike you, I am not well with confrontations. There is a reason why I hide in plain sight. I do not wish either to face the other two halfas whom you live with. It would be unwise." How had Amorpho already found out? He couldn't have been in town for more than a day or so! It just made Danny wonder how many _other_ ghosts knew.

" _Rhcs wh lvhkl?!"_ The mysteriously-familiar tongue spilt past Danny's lips. In fact, the halfa barely took note. Amorpho did though and gave him a cock-eyed look for a moment. If that was how to describe it. The ghost barely had any facial structure to speak of, and yet his expressions yelled volumes.

"Is it not obvious?" The ghost asked. He looked genuinely confused, just like how Danny felt inside.

The tables had just been flipped on him a full 180 degrees. It was supposed to be that ghosts knew his identity, but didn't tell his parents. Now the ghosts knew and hadn't told _him?_ This was just wrong, it wasn't supposed to be that way. The irony was _so_ sour. Not sweet; sour. It was sour because this wasn't supposed to be his life, _shouldn't_ be his life. He'd half died at fourteen and now- the depressing thoughts tried to invade Danny's head. His eyes had started to fog over and his face had already taken on a green-tinted hue under his tan skin. But he shoved the thoughts aside. A pity party could wait. He had to talk to Amorpho.

"I can't give you access to the portal today, but if you don't cause any trouble or fight me I can sneak you in tomorrow, you'll just have to meet me here." He'd meet his parents as Phantom and pretend to just empty his thermos, which he'd probably have to do anyway. If he remembered right, Box Ghost was still in there from the fight during school. The idiot had given him a paper cut, and it had stung like heck.

"I swear it on my after-life, Doug." The guy was freaking doing it on purpose! How hard was it to remember a name? Ok, maybe harder than it seems, but still not difficult. It was practically on his shirt, for crying out loud.

"It's Danny, Amorpho. D-A-N-N-Y." The teen crossed his arms and glared glowing green daggers at the slenderman-esque ghost. Figuratively, of course. They had a truce at the moment. Amorpho only smirked mouthlessly and flew off, to do who knew what. Danny rolled his eyes and went back to his room. At the beginning of sneaking out to fight ghosts, Danny hadn't trusted himself to fly _and_ phase at the same time and just climbed out the window. After a couple of weeks he'd tried it, and now just phased all the time. It was a heck of a lot easier.

To Danny it'd become second nature to revert whenever he was in his room -it'd honestly be really weird to be in ghost form around the house- and did so before collapsing on his mattress. The messy sheets caused bumps that dug into his back in _just_ the wrong way, and he smoothed the sheets with a huff. Now that Danny was alone, he was haunted by his own mind. Amorpho's stinging words spiralled through his head, even if the ghost hadn't known how much they'd hurt, how much they'd remind Danny of just what he had lost. In that instant, it hit him. Danny's clenched fingers went lax and his eyes turned glassy.

He would never have his old life back.

For a teenager who just wanted to be a kid again, any more change was horrifying. His _parents_ , the very people who had brought him into this world -no matter how many times they had tried to take him out of it- were the same as him. They'd had half of their humanities swiped away from them in one forward swoop, and now he was supposed to tell them how to deal with it? Had to tell them how to survive, how not to find themselves locked up somewhere for no good reason, just because they couldn't control their powers? He _had_ to be the teacher, like Vlad had tried so vehemently to become. And _Vlad._ How would this affect their relationship? Danny knew he'd have to spill his secret to his parents eventually, and that would mess with his and Vlad's 'identity truce.' Would his parents even want to have separate identities for their ghost halves, or would they just view it as a new part of them? His mom certainly hadn't seemed willing. She'd just stood aside, worrying and looking forlorn.

A knock on the door just about had Danny gathering an ectoblast. But he managed to rein in the feeling and sat up, whispering a weak 'come in.'

"Hey, Danny." Mom stood in the doorway, wearing casual clothes for the first time since they'd gone camping. Danny wondered about the sudden change.

"Heya, what's up?" Danny forced a small smile. It didn't care if he looked tired, he had been doing homework all evening. This was just… a different kind of tired.

"Dinner's ready, Jazz cooked." That had Danny off his butt and following his Mom in a heartbeat. Jazz had started cooking more often, and he was grateful for it. Maybe she should study to be a chef, instead of a psychologist.


	19. Good Times in Fentonworks

Dinner began as a mostly quiet affair, as they all gathered around the tv in the living room. On Jazz's insistence, they had started eating dinner as a family. Though they'd unanimously agreed not to just sit at the kitchen table. Then it would get quiet and everything would be awkward. Instead they'd decided on TV.

Mom had the remote and was navigating Netflix. Jazz was making plates of spaghetti for everyone -Danny's mouth had already begun watering- and Dad was getting drinks. There was a crash of glass and both Danny and his mom were darting into the kitchen. Upon the white tile was a glass, or at least it looked like it might've been one. The shards had scattered all over the floor, glinting with the reflection of the lightbulbs above.

"Everyone back up, Danny, go get the broom." His Mom took charge and Danny nodded before doing as told. Even in his haste, he didn't fail to see the expression on his Dad's face. He looked… lost. It sent a pang of empathy through Danny. He knew exactly what his Dad was going through. After all, he'd been through that entire plight for himself. It only hardened Danny's resolve. He didn't want to see that look ever again, he wanted to make everything better. It had to be.

Danny returned with the broom from the pantry. Jazz was pouring the drinks now, and Dad had settled on the couch. He was sunken into the cushions, his head in his hands. Danny tore away his gaze. He couldn't stand to look anymore. He turned around and saw jazz looking at their dad as well, but snapped her gaze away when their eyes met. She looked at him suspiciously. Dangit, she already knew something was up. But she didn't immediately pull him away to ask what was going on, so Danny just held his breath and decided to roll with the punches. There wasn't much else he could do. Within minutes the mess was cleaned up, and all reminders thrown in the trash.

They settled on the couch and Danny made sure to take the place beside Dad. He shifted into the older's side and despite the weird glance, knew that he was welcome. His dad loved contact, and at hopefully it'd make him feel better.

"Love you, Dad." Danny sighed with a smile. Dad grinned before replying.

"I love you too, Danno." The episode started.

A half-hour later the plates had been set aside and drinks drained. Yet still, the jokes kept rolling. Danny could _feel_ his dad's full-bellied laugh. He draped his arm over the teen's shoulders after they'd finished eating and Danny could hear every breath and heart beat. It was... grounding. And welcome. His dad laughed again and Danny closed his eyes, just hearing the sound. It was like a melody to Danny's ears. It was a reassurance that everything would end up fine, especially if he had anything to say about it.

The credits rolled and his Dad groaned. He looked hopefully over at Mom, who was sitting on Danny's other side. Jazz had taken the recliner.

"One more?" Dad asked. Mom took one look at the clock, then stared right into his Dad's eyes and turned off the tv.

"We can't stay up too late, Dad." Jazz was already picking up plates and glasses. Danny didn't really want to get up, not yet. His Dad was so warm, like a big teddy bear.

"All right, Danno. She's right." he patted Danny's shoulder before standing. His joints popped and he stretched his back. Same old dad. Just at the mention of the time, Danny felt like he weighed a ton. His eyelids dropped and he yawned greatly. Sleep sounded… amazing.

"Go right on to bed, Danny." The fought against the weights that seemed to be glued to his eyelids to look up at his Mom. She was smiling sweetly upon him, offering a hand to help him up. Danny gratefully accepted it. Mom's hand was strong in his grasp and it briefly made Danny wonder how she hadn't had any intangibility problems. Or maybe she was, and was holding herself together around him and Jazz. She was always steady, like a rock. Great, now he can't stop thinking about it. Why couldn't he just enjoy some normal family time, without worrying about ghost things? Danny shook his head to clear the thoughts. The time for that was tomorrow. Not today.

The carpet was soft under Danny's feet as he ascended the stairs, collapsing onto his bed. In the dim lighting, the only illumination coming from the full moon, Danny's glow in the dark stars shone brightly. He'd won the pack of them from some party or other in elementary school. He'd come straight home and his Dad had hoisted him up onto his shoulders to stick them to the ceiling. Thinking back on the memory gave Danny a warm feeling in his chest, and he drifted off trying to remember what party he'd won the stars at.

The golden rays of mid-day sun shone through Danny's curtains. Dust drifted lazily, caught within the sunbeams for a moment. One such shaft founds its way to Danny's face, shining right in his eyes. The dust tickled his nose and a half-asleep Danny sneezed himself awake. The placid atmosphere was broken at that moment. Danny rubbed his nose, lamenting his horrible luck. But the smell of drifting bacon shoved the thoughts from his mind. The teen threw on an old, comfortable t-shirt and darted to the kitchen. His blanket was still draped over his shoulders and flew back like a cape as Danny rushed down the stairs. His footsteps could be heard by every occupant, and the wood creaked with each pound.

Jazz was standing by the stove, and their parents were sat at the kitchen table. The easy conversation was flitting through the air, and overall everything was relaxed. Mom was reading some magazine or another, and Dad was just talking. He was twiddling his fingers, though. Almost like he didn't know what to do with his hands.

"I told you, Dad." Jazz was grinning triumphantly.

"I figured he'd think sleep was more important than food. Even if I don't think so." What?

"Did you guys bet on whether I'd come down at the smell of bacon?" Dad only nodded and slid a five-dollar bill Jazz's way. She grinned before going to tend to the bacon.

"Hey, I should get part of it. The bet was about me." Danny pouted. It was an exact copy of his Dad's, who was upset at losing five bucks to his daughter.

"How's bacon for payment?" Jazz took a few pieces out of the sizzling pan and put in the last few pieces from the pound.

"You won me over at bacon." Danny grinned and swiped a piece of bacon from the plate on the counter. Jazz smacked his hand away, but Danny had already succeeded and the piece had been halfway to his mouth. He stuck his tongue out at his sourpuss of a sister and snatched piece two before darting over to the table and plopping himself down. Jazz's glare followed him to his seat, but she dropped it when the next batch of bacon needed her attention.

Quickly the first piece found its way into Danny's stomach, and at seeing his dad's disheartened look, he sent the other piece his way. He winked at Danny and smiled.

"You're corrupting him, Danny. I don't need two guys stealing food before it's done cooking." The dishes clinked at Jazz gathered plates.

"Believe me, your father's probably the one who corrupted Danny in the first place." Mom smiled and got up from her seat. Her fluffy slippers sounded almost like flip-flops on the tile. She picked some plastic glasses from the cupboard and started getting drinks.

"Hey!" The black-haired Fentons shouted in unison.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm sorry that this chapter took so long! School started up and between Marching Band and robotics I haven't had much time at besides to sleep, lol. Not to mention Ectober. Now that I've started getting back into the swing of things I'll try to get chapters out a bit more often, and perhaps a bit longer ones as well. Thank-you for reading, and have a good day!**


	20. Really, Skulker?

Danny felt sick to his stomach as he flew up into the air from his bedroom window. His hands were sweating in his gloves, and he was sure his fingers had turned white with how hard he was clutching his thermos. He wasn't all that anxious about the thing with Amorpho, the ghost had stuck to his word in just about every case he had given it. There wasn't much to worry about him anyways, shapeshifting seemed to be his only notable ability. No, he was anxious about facing his parents. Everything had just been so… fast the last time. All of his memories had just blurred together and it seemed like a dream. If his Dad hadn't dropped that glass last night, he would've thought it had been a nightmare.

"Janny! Just the halfa I was looking forward to seeing." the teen whipped around to see… Amorpho. He was just floating there. Nothing seemed off…

"If I've told you once, I've told you a million times, Amorpho. My name is Danny. Not Janny, or Billy or whatever that crazy mind of yours comes up with." He huffed. How hard was it to remember his name? He had to say it again literally every time he saw the dude.

"My apologies, Dan." Danny could swear he was smirking, under that featureless guise. Danny's nose scrunched and he glared at the ghost floating across from him. Amorpho said nothing.

"Let's just get this over with, okay?" Danny uncapped the thermos and pointed it at Amorpho. The shapeshifted took a step back, er- floated back. Could it be called a step? There wasn't any floor, so...?  
"We have to get around my parents. I was planning on sneaking you into the lab in the thermos. Is there something wrong with that?" Danny gave him a deadpan look.

"Could I- could I see it? I just want to make sure you didn't do anything to it."

"Sure." Danny tossed the Thermos to Amorpho, who caught it with a bit of difficulty. He fumbled for a moment. But after a moment of inspecting the gadget, he suddenly looked up. He was smiling. Danny backed up a bit- Amorpho's look was… unsettling. And Creepy. Like Slenderman.

"See ya Billy!" Amorpho shouted, then turned tail and darted into the ground, phasing through. The nerve of him! It had all been an act!  
"He's all yours!" Amorpho yelled with a sense of finality. No, Danny wasn't going to let him get away that easily.

"Hey!" Danny paid the words no attention and instead took chase. His legs melted into a tail as Danny dived at a high speed. Why had Amorpho stolen it?! He'd have a one-way ticket to the Ghost Zone now! A chill settled over Danny's entire body as he turned intangible. He'd have to be quick to catch Amorpho before he changed forms-

Suddenly Danny's tail caught on something somehow, striking a bolt of pain down his spine. It was like someone had grabbed his spine and pulled. Danny cried as it knocked the breath out of him, and slammed his eyes shut to ride out the white-hot pain. When he finally peeled them open, Skulker's sneering mug loomed over him.

"Whelp," Skulker revealed his metal teeth in a feral grin before yanking Danny by his tail with an intangible hand and whipping him around, sending the phantom hurtling towards his bedroom window when the mech let go. Danny's hair blew in his face and his scream was almost lost in the rush.

The glass shattered on contact, the shards piercing the hazmat suit along with Danny's skin. He landed with a thud right on top of a lego spaceship he'd built years ago and set on his dresser before forgetting. It laid in pieces scattered all around Danny's room now, months of work wasted. From somewhere within the house, there was a yell. But Danny was more focused on the giant robot ghost speeding through the air right at his face. Sometimes he couldn't believe this had become his life. It was like a cartoon. Half the time he about expected to find a camera shoved in his face as he turned around.

Danny's legs reformed as his instincts kicked in -thank god- and he dodged Skulker's metal fist. It lodged itself into the wall, instead. The drywall gave and white powder exploded across the dresser. Skulker braced one foot against the wall to get his fist out and Danny took the chance to get as far as would be possible. Adrenaline coursed through his veins and he leapt out the shattered window, being cut again on the sharp edges.

Skulker freed himself and yanked Danny back by his foot, tossing Danny into the wall Skulker's fist had been stuck in. He lost his breath again, as the collision forced it out of his lungs. White dust coated his back and turned the black material a striking white. Some dust even got in Danny's mouth and he wiped it from his tongue because gross.

"What, none of your witty banter this time?" Skulker leered. Danny couldn't think of a comeback. He was too busy trying to manoeuvre around Skulker's fists and weapons. Not to mention he was trying to get Skulker out of his bedroom before he broke anything more. His model, wall, window, and bed had already suffered from the altercation.

"Danny!?" And it had just gotten worse. That was Mom's voice. Danny chanced a glance behind his shoulder as he rolled to avoid a barrage of bullets, and saw his hole-ridden for start to open. In a literal flash, Danny had an idea. His Mom would be a lot more accepting to see Fenton destroying his bedroom than Phantom. Not that he was enjoying the destruction. He loathed having to pick it all up later. Skulker was partially blinded when Danny changed forms.

The flash had just faded when Danny's door slammed open. The knob jammed itself into the wall from the force. Danny had just barely caught sight of his Mom's red hair before Skulker advanced again, this time towards her. The mech drew his focus.

"You've weakened yourself, ghost child." Danny's hand found the wall, and he learned with a shudder that Skulker had backed him into the wall. He couldn't use his powers with his Mom there, he didn't want her to know yet! So he was as powerless as after Vlad shocked him with the Plasmius Maximus.

"Get away from my son, ghost scum!" A green blast nailed Skulker in the shoulder and he whipped around. Mom stood there brandishing an ecto-gun. Where she got it from Danny had no idea. Skulker growled under his breath and turned away, squaring up with Mom. This could not end well.

"You will not interrupt my hunt." Skulker aimed at Mom with his missiles.

"Mom! Move! Danny was torn. He didn't want his Mom to be in any danger, but she could hold for herself against Skulker...right? The only reason he was a threat this time was because it had been an ambush. A smart one too, taking advantage of him like that and stealing his thermos. He still had no idea how to end the fight, unless his mom had a thermos on her. But it was unlikely since they'd been declared defunct by Dad a long time ago.

"Get away from my son, scum!" She pulled out an ectogun -from seemingly nowhere- and launched a barrage of blasts at the mech. In that instant, Danny dove for his book bag, which was sitting underneath his window.

"You imbecile, now I have but another halfa to hunt!" Skulker boomed. Danny froze for a moment at hearing the proclamation. First of all, how the heck did everyone know before him, and two, how would she react? The teen glanced at his Mom and their eyes met. She looked panicked and slightly confused. Her mind was running a mile a minute behind those lilac irises. Danny loathed to find out what she was thinking.

The moment only lasted for just that, a moment. Then Skulker brought out a new blade and charged. Danny turned back to his goal, practically tearing his bookbag open and grasping for his spare thermos. As soon as Danny's fingers closed around the chill metal, he yanked the device out and pressed the button. A beam of pale blue light shot out from the seemingly harmless item. Skulker was caught in the light and sucked into the machine as though it were a tractor beam. He struggled against it at first, grabbing onto whatever he could to ground himself. He hurled insults at both halfas, but neither listened. Mom leapt out of the way of the beam at first and used her ecto gun to dislodge Skulker's grasp on Danny dresser. There was a reason why Danny didn't just use the thermos in the first place. When aware of it, it was possible to get out of range or even get out of the column of light. However, if he weakened his enemies first, then they couldn't escape it. In a way, it was like a Pokeball. Sometimes Danny couldn't believe this was his life.

Danny cursed under his breath when he realized how close his mom was to the thermos' range. If she took another step forward, she'd be caught in it too. He despised the thought of her having to explain why it worked on her, as well as his detestment for being inside the thing. He didn't want her to have to experience that. So Danny shifted the Thermos a bit further to the left, to avoid his Mom. She visibly relaxed as there become more distance between her and the invention.

"YOU WHELP!" Skulker let out one more cry before his fingers that were clutching the carpet gave out and he disappeared. The moment in which he'd been caught felt like forever but it was only an instant. Danny capped the tool and let out a breath he must've been holding since his mom came in.

Everything went deadly still. It was as if the very walls were holding their breath. Danny dropped onto the floor in front of his window. His legs were aching and it felt like someone had yanked his back and twisted. He'd need to chase after Amorpho eventually, but that would have to wait until he had time to himself, and a bit of time to recover. He was still having an issue getting a good breath. It would be a chore, though, to find Amorpho. The shapeshifter had no doubt already high-tailed it out of town. Or perhaps he was waiting for Skulker to meet up with him.

Speaking of Skulker, the menace had done so much damage. White dust coated Danny's dresser and legos were scattered across the carpet. Skulker's fist imprint had gone through the wall behind his dresser, tearing through half of the drywall and exposing wires. At least ten scorch marks dotted the floor, walls, and carpet. Some were green, from Skulker's attacks, and others showed the distinct soot-like black from ecto gun fire. His mom was a good aim, but even she missed. Overall Skulker had made a royal mess, and Danny was already dreading the cleanup.

Finally, something broke and Mom dropped her gun, sprinting the short distance across the room to wrap Danny in her arms after falling to her knees. She was shaking, which was a surprise. She was always so sure of herself when facing ghosts.  
"Are you hurt?" Her voice shook just as much as her shoulders. So that was why. She was afraid for him. That was wrong. She had nothing to be afraid of, he could handle himself. Well, he didn't this time, but that was only because she had intervened.

"I'm fine, Mom. Not even a scratch." She pulled away but left her hands on his shoulders. Her eyes scanned his face, most likely looking for any scrapes or cuts.  
"Mo-om, stop it," He drew the line when she licked her thumb and tried to wipe something from his forehead. It was still gross, even if she'd been doing it since he was a baby. She huffed and sat back on her legs.

"Has that ghost attacked you before?" She questioned. Her brows were furrowed and she was still clutching one of his hands. But at least he had some space to breathe. And think. Because he needed to make up a story that she would believe and all the facts had to be straight. But if he didn't reply soon-

"Nope." He popped the 'p.' His response had still been a moment late, but hopefully, she wouldn't notice. Suddenly her gaze drifted down to the thermos in his hand. Fudge- the last person she'd seen with a thermos had been Phantom.

"Where did you get that?" She asked, reaching for it. Danny was hesitant, and suddenly he became aware of his breathing. It was loud in his ears. But he let her have the Thermos, anyways. It would be suspicious otherwise, and now she had a reason to be suspicious of people acting weird. Even if he was her son, and surely he couldn't be a halfa like her.

"I found it in the lab a while ago, it- it seemed cool. Are you ok?" He shouldn't have changed topics like that, but he needed to shift the focus of the conversation. It was getting too close.

"It's just some scrapes, sweetie. I'll be fine." Finally, she stood and offered her hand. Danny grasped it and she hauled him up with not-so-surprising strength. She did work out every weekend when she wasn't in the midst of a project that she needed to focus on more. Now that he thought about it, she hadn't gone since before hers and Dad's accident. Oh.

Mom surveyed the damage with a grimace on her face. She looked from the dresser, to the legos, and to the shattered window. Skulker was going to pay. But right now he couldn't get the mech, because Mom was holding onto the thermos. He hoped that she'd give it back, it was his last one. There had only been three prototypes, and the third was holding Dan in clockwork's lair.  
"What do you say we leave this all for later and go drink some hot chocolate?" Danny nodded at once. Mom made the best hot chocolate, and it would give him a bit of time to think.

* * *

With a warm bellyful of hot chocolate, Danny stepped out the front door. He'd told his mom he was going to the arcade cafe with Tucker for a doomed marathon since his internet was down, but his friend was covering for him. He had on a thick jacket, even though it felt unnecessary. The worst of the winter had passed in early February, and now that March had rolled around things finally seemed to have started thawing. Even if it was a slow process.

He was torn between going to hunt down Amorpho, or going to see his parents in ghost form. Ultimately, his thermos was more important. It would be difficult to track him down, however. Maybe he could get his parents' help? But if he showed too much interest as their son they'd get suspicious… maybe Phantom should pay them a visit after all.

Danny went around the corner before transforming in between two houses. There were no windows in either on this side since that'd just be dumb, and there was a gate at either end. The gates were locked, but just reaching over and pulling the inside handle resolved that issue. Danny had started to use this spot often since he'd discovered it a few days ago. With a rush of power, Danny Fenton became Danny Phantom, and he flew off invisible to go see his parents. Danny cringed as soon as he attempted takeoff. The window had cut his clothes earlier, and though no pieces had stuck around and his suit was fixed, cuts still littered his arms, back, and stomach. Oh well, he'd just have to power through. They'd heal… eventually. So he left the ground lightly and set off at a meandering pace. His ghost sense went off as he neared, which was still weird to him.

The teen knocked on the lab door, as his Mom had suggested the other day. He was invisible as well, not that that mattered. Jazz was at the library writing an essay for a scholarship even though she was only a Junior. That was just how Jazz was, always planning. He could probably learn a thing or two from her.

The lab door opened at Danny was greeted with the sight of his Dad, who stepped onto the kitchen tile to see who knocked and bumped into him. Invisible, right.

"Hey, uh so Mo-addie said to show up invisible-"

"Phantom!" The large man smiled widely, talking to a spot right next to him. He was thanking his Dad hadn't noticed the slip-up. It was so weird calling his parents by their first names.  
"Come on in, and turn visible if you would. The kids aren't home." Danny took the suggestion and landed on his feet before lifting his invisibility.  
"You'll have to teach me how to do that." Dad was grinning like the joker, just not as creepily.

"It's pretty easy, but I actually need your guys' help if that's possible." Danny started taking the stairs and his Dad followed, closing the door behind them.

"Sure thing kiddo!" He practically yelled that in Danny's ear and the teen held back the urge to jump. His cuts flared with pain when he jumped. He just barely managed to hide a grimace. By that time they reached the end of the stairs and Danny was surprised to see that his Mom wasn't there.

"Where's Maddie?" He asked, padding over to sit on a stretch of open counter on the right side of the lab, his Mom's side. There wasn't any clean anything on his Dad's side. He didn't know how Mom dealt with it. Even the sight had him itching to grab the broom from upstairs. Or a powerwasher.

"She just went and got in the shower. A ghost attacked our son, and it really stressed her out." Dad almost looked downtrodden, as he took a seat in a rolling chair.  
"What have you been up to?" He asked tiredly.

"Just the usual. Actually, I was wondering if you wouldn't mind helping me with something?" His Dad straightened a bit and nodded with a tired smile.  
"So, I was fighting a ghost earlier, right? Well, he stole the Fenton Thermos I was using. So I was wondering if I could borrow something to track him down and get it back?" Danny twiddled his fingers, interlocking them picking at the edges of his gloves. Huh… they were starting to get small. He was growing. Just slowly. That would be a problem if he had a growth spurt, though. Maybe he could ask Mom and Dad to make him a new suit since he spent so much time in the lab. But then that would be suspicious if Phantom suddenly showed up in it. They probably wouldn't make him one that looked like Phantom's, or they'd wonder why-

"I can just make you a new one! So you don't have to go on a wild goose chase." His Dad grinned innocently. That would- that would help so much. There would still be the problem of Amorpho having one, but at most he'd probably just throw it away, and not even bother to figure out how it worked.

"All I ask is that you teach me how to turn invisible." He suddenly looked serious. Danny shifted in his seat, and a ball of anxiety settled in his gut. Dad was never serious unless something was up for he hadn't done his chores. And right then he looked like someone had killed his puppy.  
"I need to steal some fudge from the kitchen."

Danny burst out laughing. That was just- just his Dad! He shouldn't have expected anything else of the man! He probably loved sugar more than his inventions!

"Hey, it's not that funny. Fudge is serious business!" Dad pouted. That only sent Danny into another laughing fit.

"Can-do, Jack." He gave a thumbs up and wiped a fake tear from the edge of his eye.

* * *

"So, invisibility is pretty simple. In fact, it goes pretty hand in hand with intangibility. It's harder to go intangible without going invisible as well than just invisible. So how are you doing with intangibility?" They were each sat in the middle of the lab, as far from anything fragile as they could be. Both were in ghost form-though Danny had been in the first place, of course. But now his Dad was glowing like he was. Today was just full of surreal moments.

"I think I'm getting some control, but other things keep happening accidentally." For example, his Dad managed to turn his hand intangible. He was only able to hold it like that for a moment.

"I used to do that too, so it's nothing wrong with you. One time I even changed back on accident. I wasn't even trying to do anything, it just happened. And intangibility was the bane of my existence for a while. I'm still not allowed to handle anything glass in science class." The first few months after his accident had been anxiety-ridden, and his depression had seemed to go on forever. But his friends were able to pull him from his funk eventually, even if problems still lingered.

"My son isn't allowed to handle glass in science either!" Despite the cheery tone, Danny froze. Dangit, he was saying too much. It just felt good to talk to someone. He needed to be more careful. Or should he really? Would it be that bad if they found out?

"You two would probably be good friends." Danny sighed in relief, thankful for his Dad's obliviousness. And people called him clueless. Dad was on a whole other level.

Abruptly the lab door opened and Danny heard his mom descending the stairs. She wasn't wearing any shoes, and instead of her normal suit, she was just in pyjamas. No to mention that her hair was still wet. Water dripped onto her shoulders where she tied her hair in a ponytail.

"I want to learn how to use my powers." She said resolutely.

* * *

 **AN:**

 **I'm sorry that it took me so long to upload another chapter, school has just been sucking up all of my free time lately. But now that Marching band is over, hopefully, I'll be able to update a bit more often. Hope you enjoyed the longer chapter! Please leave a review if you have any ideas where this story can go because I'm just going with the flow at this point. I feel like the story needs a bigger plot point for everything to revolve around, but I'm drawing a blank as to how I could put that into the story and still have it make sense.**


	21. Lesson Zero

"Ok?" Danny was shocked at Mom's sudden… eagerness.  
"Any reason why? I mean, I'm happy to teach you, but you didn't seem interested before." Mom didn't answer right away, and instead took a seat on her side of the lab.

"Powers like yours are so much better than any weapon I could ever make. And if I have that potential I want to be able to use it." Danny hadn't really thought of it that way. It was true, whenever he was limited to his parents' gadgets he usually got frustrated. His blasts just seemed so much better, and easier.

"Have you tried transforming?" At the suggestion, Mom looked uneasy again.  
"Sorry," Danny said to his Dad and went over to his Mom. She was always the one who thought through what she did and this seemed like an awfully spur-of-the-moment decision. He set a hand on her shoulder lightly.  
"You don't have to use your powers. You probably want to learn how to control them, but you don't have to use them. Geez, you're so smart you could probably figure out how to get rid of them." He gave her a grin. She looked up at him and returned the smile.

"I should learn how to control it anyways. How do you transform?" She straightened her back and Danny removed his hand from her shoulder.

"Ooh! I can help!" Dad grabbed a rolling chair and pushed off of the desk to roll over to Mom's side of the lab.  
"But, uh. Maybe you should explain it." He rubbed the back of his neck, and for a second Danny was curious if he got that tic from Dad. Danny nodded and took a second to think of how he'd explained it to his Dad.

"Well, can you feel your core? You should be able to feel it in your chest, next to your heart. Mine's kinda cold, but that's just because I have an ice core. You might have a different kind." Mom closed her eyes for a minute, and Danny could see her eyes moving behind her eyelids. She also held a hand up to her chest as well. After a moment, she nodded.

"I can feel it. It's… warm? I think." She had her face screwed up in concentration. Fire core, perhaps? Danny thought that's what Vlad has. He'd never really asked the guy, but he mainly used ecto-fire in their battles but he also used electricity. Hmm. Anyways, Danny didn't really know much about cores other than his own.

"Try pulling on it, like imagine that you're reaching for it." At least, that was how he'd figured it out. It took a bit to remember how he used to do it since now it was just another thing he did. He didn't need to think of a work-around. He just did it.

"I imagine mine as fudge in the fridge that I want!" Dad interjected.

"Or that." Danny grinned. He looked around for the nearest chair, but he didn't really want to grab one, so he pulled his legs up to sit criss-cross. He felt… pride at watching his Mom try and transform. He could almost feel the air shift when she finally managed it after a moment.

Slightly orange rings burst into existence around her, and Mom gasped. They all watched in fascination as the ring split. They revealed that Mom's jumpsuit turned light orange, with white details. It seemed that the tradition of a negative colour-swap had persisted. That was until the rings revealed Mom's face. Her lipstick turned mysteriously white, but her hair didn't turn blue, as one would expect. Instead, it turned inky black, and took on a slightly flamelike quality, though definitely not as intense as Ember's ponytail. Instead, her hair looked to be floating in an invisible wind, but it still held the same shorter-in back look. A far less shocking change was her eyes, which turned a striking magenta.

"Well?" She asked, looking up from where she'd been staring at her hands. She looked uneasy like she'd made the wrong decision. Danny thought she'd made the right one, but she had seemed like she'd just decided on a whim and was still hyped up from the adrenaline when she got down to the lab. He hoped she didn't hate herself for being half-ghost. He'd seen what had happened when he'd resented his ghost side in the alternate future. It was yet another stone that led to Dan's creation, and Danny was going to do anything to make this all comfortable.

Dad just had to go and wolf-whistle, breaking the moment. Mom smiled and blushed at the action, but slapped Dad lightly in the shoulder for the comment. He just grinned and smiled down at her with those lovey-dovey eyes of his.

"Ugh," Danny groaned, facepalming. No kid likes to hear their parents flirting. It was awkward enough when he heard kids at school flirting with each other. Especially all the things people said to Paulina. If she wasn't so shallow and such a bully he might've felt sorry for her.

"There's a kid present, can you hold off the flirting?"

"I was just saying-" Dad started.

"Jack, give it a rest. I got your point." Mom started looking through her pockets, as though looking for something.

"What are you looking for?" Danny asked curiously.

"My phone." Mom replied, and she pulled a few things out of her pockets. There was a blue-tinted version of the stick she'd fought Vlad's animal ghosts with in one of them. A few other little gadgets were found, all with colour swapped. She must've had all of that in the explosion. Which explained her goggles, whose black rims had turned to white and their red lenses had become magenta, like her eyes.

"It'll be on your human form. Stuff doesn't transform with you." He explained.

"Then why is this the same thing I was wearing?" She asked curiously.

"It's just what you must've been wearing when you became a halfa." He should've told her that before. But he was new to this! The only other person he'd had to explain anything like this to was Sam and Tucker, but they were figuring it out right along with him. Mom and Dad exchanged looks, and Danny felt out of the loop.

"What?" He asked with a raised eyebrow. They swapped another glance before his Mom spoke.

"Where did you get a hazmat suit? Why were you wearing one when you're only a teenager?" She questioned. Aw, how was he supposed to explain that? He'd just have to brush off the question. They would understand that he didn't want to share. He could make up an outlandish story, but they'd see right through it, no doubt.

"I'm… not gonna answer that. I don't want to share who I am yet." And at this point, he'd more likely get grounded than hunted. They knew he was like this now, and they wouldn't hurt him, at least that was certain. Mostly. At least that was a weight off of his shoulders, no threat of being hunted by them if his secret was revealed.

Mom didn't make any comment. She stared off behind his shoulder, and that look in her eyes made him shudder as he turned to see what was behind him.  
"Um, is there something wrong?" He asked lightly. She seemed to be thinking, but the look on her face was unsettling. At his words, she snapped out of her trance and blinked a few times.

"Oh, it's nothing. I was just thinking. Now, how do I change back?" Mom said the last part with such levity and humour that Danny couldn't help but chuckle a bit.

"Just try… pulling it in. I mean- can you feel your core?"

"I… yeah. I can feel it a lot clearer than before, actually. It's warm… but somehow cold too? How is that possible?" The last part she said quietly like she was musing to herself.

"It's a core. In my experience, ghost stuff doesn't always make sense. You should see all of the time-travelling doors in there." Danny snorted and pointed to the closed portal doors to his right.

"You've been in there?" Dad asked excitedly. Wait, they'd never been in the GZ, had they? Geez, they'd had the portal for how long now and hadn't bothered to go inside?

"Yeah, haven't you?" He questioned. Mom shook her head before answering his question.

"No. We studied it without going in for the first month or so after it was running, but then ghosts started attacking and we shifted to making weapons instead. We've run a few tests like sending scanners in but most of them disappear the moment we step away. On the few that have had cameras we only ever see this white ghost who grins into them before crushing them. I can't even imagine how much money it's cost us." She shook her head. That description sounded familiar.

"Did he have a white cowboy hat, black boots, and an ego bigger than Texas?"

"You know him?" She asked incredulously.

"Yeah. I'm guessing you're dealing with Walker. He calls himself a warden and has a "prison,"" Danny emphasized 'prison' with air-quotes, "and hates anyone having real-world stuff in the Ghost Zone. He arrested me once and has a grudge because I led a prison break. He also took over the town once, and no one noticed." He sagged, "That was a fun week." He had a deadpan tone as he thought back on all the trouble Walker had caused. Now he found out the guy had been messing with his parents? He'd have some words with guy if he didn't have all of those goons around him all the time. Danny wondered, not for the first time, where they'd all come from in the first place, and why they were all identical.

Suddenly there was a flash of orange-white light and Danny saw his Mom changing back into her human form. The rings formed at her toes and above her head like a halo. They came together at the centre and the energy seemingly dispersed into the air.

"Hey, you did it!" Danny exclaimed, holding out a gloved hand for a high five. Mom just left him hanging, though. That was kinda rude. Though, she was a bit distracted. Mom gave a shiver at the sensation and reached for her phone, fumbling a bit. Her fingers were shaking.

"That was odd." Her voice warbled as she set her phone on the lab counter.

"It is pretty weird." Both Danny and his Dad said in unison.

"Great minds think alike!" Dad boasted after a moment.

"But fools rarely differ, what does that make you two?" Mom countered. No one spoke for a minute, and Mom was smirking.

"Hey, didn't you want some tips on invisibility?" Danny said swiftly in Dad's direction.

"Oh, yeah!" He beamed.

"How do you turn invisible?" Mom added to the conversation. She transformed a moment later, making a weird face but saying nothing more after it was over.

"Well-"

"Mom! Dad!" Oh no, oh no. Jazz yelled that down the staircase, and Danny heard her steps echoing around the lab. Where they were by Mom's side of the room they lab couldn't be seen from the first few steps, but she would see them all soon.

"Change back!" Danny yell-whispered, and turned invisible on instinct. His parents must've sensed the urgency because both of them started reverting without preamble, and their rings had just faded when Jazz spoke next.

"There you guys are." She sighed.  
"I thought you'd be out ghost hunting or something. I just wanted to say I'm making spaghetti for dinner." She made it down the rest of the steps and Danny had to dodge out of the way when she neared. He could swear she looked in his direction for a moment. Danny's breath was loud in his head, and he almost held it to keep from alerting Jazz. His heartbeat was pounding in his ears as well and even though he shouldn't be afraid of his sister, he didn't want to reveal his parents to her yet, and they didn't want her to know either. He would keep his word, no matter what. All of his interactions, with allies or enemies, had taught him the importance of giving someone your word.

"No, we were just about to head upstairs." At Mom's words, Dad glanced at him -though he was looking slightly to Danny's left, and Danny took it as a sign to leave. Without another word, he darted upwards and turned intangible to go through the ceiling. He closed his eyes as he went through, and held his breath. One time he'd forgotten and gotten a nose full of dust bunnies.

A brisk wind smacked Danny in the face as he rose through the ground, and he gasped as his eyes opened. Fudge- he'd overshot the house again. The lab went a bit into the backyard and this wasn't the first time he'd gone too far out. But as Danny saw the stars that were dotting the sky, he didn't regret it as much. The sky was clear, despite the wind which usually rode in on thunderstorms.

The teen grinned, looked at his house behind him, and shot into the sky. The wind changed directions from his perspective and his legs turned into a tail without a moment's thought. He didn't close his eyes this time, and instead just blinked away the dryness as he rose to be level with the Op centre. He looked down at the ground and just smiled at seeing how small everything had gotten. It was still mystifying to look down and see nothing underneath his feet, which had turned back into feet without him noticing. Danny turned upside down and his snicker could be heard clear as day in the empty sky. Or at least it was empty except for the clouds.

Danny looked down and had to use a hand to hold back his hair as it tried to get in his face. If he let it get any longer he could probably put it in a ponytail. His hair still grew as Phantom, but if he got it cut as Fenton the change wouldn't carry over. Now that he thought about it, maybe he'd look cool with a ponytail. Otherwise, he'd have to ask Jazz, Sam, or Tucker to cut it.

He thought to himself quietly and rose a bit further into the sky, still facing the ground. The wind up there nipped at his hair and clothes, but Danny didn't mind. He breathed in the crisp winter air and looked up, down from his perspective, at the moon. Tonight was just so beautiful. But all good things must come to an end. As much as Danny hated to leave the sky, spaghetti sounded really good.

 **AN:**

 **Hello! I'm sorry the updates are so random. There will probably be another chapter this month since I've already stated on the next one. Uh, that's all I really had to say, so... have a good day! I hope you're enjoying the story!**


	22. A Halfa and His Friends

**AN:**  
 **HAPPY HOLIDAYS!**  
 **Here's a long chapter just for y'all for Christmas! Or whatever holiday you're celebrating!**

 **I hope you all enjoy the chapter. It's kinda filler for what's coming up, but I still had fun writing it! I feel like it's just been Danny and his parents for a while, so here's some interaction with Sam and Tucker!**

 **Just to clear up the timeline a bit, (mostly for myself) the Proto-portal explosion happened on October 28th, then the time skipped a bit over a month to the 2nd of December and the week or so after that, and now it is December 20th. I didn't really think of the timeline at the time, so I guess Halloween and Thanksgiving happened in the background. Christmas won't get skipped, though!**

Things went well for a time. Danny would go ghost and sneak past Jazz into the basement to help his parents with their powers. However, with midterms coming up he broke the news that he wouldn't be able to come around for a few weeks. Not to mention the Holidays on the horizon. Danny was so proud of his parents, of how far they'd come. His Dad had gotten a good hold of intangibility and even had started on invisibility, which Danny was sure he'd have down in no time. Mom had her sights set on… other goals, but she'd still made a lot of progress. Her first endeavour was ecto-blasts, even though Danny had advised against it. In only a week she was able to get a flicker to form, and apparently, she'd practised while Danny wasn't around because she could fire blasts the size of golf balls the next time he'd come around.

Overall, Danny was fairly happy. Ghost attacks had started trickling off as the holidays approached and many were occupied with parties in the GZ. Danny had gotten an invitation from Dora for himself along with Sam and Tucker, so he had that to look forward to. Not to mention the official Christmas Truce party, for which Ghostwriter had been elected to host. Danny heard that he'd grumbled all the while, and had already threatened death to anyone who damaged his books, no matter if the Truce was in effect or not. Many more invitations had shown up on Danny's desk- most ghosts didn't care about going into his room, as Danny had disabled the house's defences long ago. However most just seemed like traps, so the teen set those alight with ecto-fire and dumped the green-tinted ashes into his trash can. The holidays seemed like they'd go well so far, but Danny couldn't be sure. He was just waiting for his parents to go on their normal Santa spiel, but they hadn't started arguing yet. He hoped that maybe they'd be distracted enough to not fight that year, but his hopes weren't very high. He did have things he was looking forward to, though.

Dora's party was on the twentieth of December, the same day school got out for winter break. Midterms had been on Tuesday and Wednesday, so Danny couldn't wait for the break. It was a god-send that the Friday before winter break was a 2-hour early release. The teen didn't think that he couldn't stand two extra hours at school.

Before lunch, Danny was sitting in English with Tucker on one side of him, Dash on the other. The teacher had done alphabetical order in columns, so it'd been pure luck-bad luck because Dash was there- that Tucker, Danny, and Dash had been seated by each other in a row. Sam was in the honour's class so they wouldn't see her again until lunch.

Mr. Lancer was droning on as normal. He'd gotten switched from a freshman teacher to a sophomore teacher over the last summer, and though Danny had a bit more respect for him after Mr. Lancer drove the teen and Jazz to the hospital, his classes were still as dull as a butter knife. The only time Danny had really enjoyed the class was the few days they'd gotten to watch To Kill a Mockingbird in class after reading the book. Of course, Dash had taken the chance to mess with Danny in the dim light, which included more spitballs than Danny cared to mention. He would've let them faze through him, but then they'd hit Tucker instead. Speaking of Tucker,

"Hey, Danny?" He whispered quietly. Mr. Lancer didn't notice, already deep into his spiel about some book called 'Animal Farm.' Danny looked at him and raised his eyebrows to ask 'what?'

"Do you think there'll be any hotties?" He questioned with a grin.

"Dude, they're ghosts."

"So? I'm not picky." Tucker wiggled his eyebrows pervertedly.

"You don't really mean that, do you?" Danny asked. Tucker shook his head gave a quiet snort.

"Nah, I just wanted to mess with you. Why so serious? You act like you're half dead or something." Tucker couldn't even keep a straight face during his attempted joke.

"That didn't even make sense this time, Tuck." Danny rolled his eyes. Tucker had quite an armoury of ghost puns, but he'd found a favourite in the 'half-dead' quip and tried to put it in every conversation nowadays.

The conversation dropped and it wasn't until about half an hour later that the bell rang and Danny sighed in relief. Lunch was always his favourite class, and English was just torture with a grumbling stomach. Tucker had his stuff together first but waited for Danny to get his own things together before they started off to the cafeteria. Unluckily for the pair, a certain bully was waiting just behind the door.

Danny and Tucker stepped through the threshold and Dash stuck a foot out in front of Danny, then Kwan knocked Tucker's phone-PDA right out of his hands.  
"Hey!" Tucker screeched with a voice crack. Danny just barely managed to catch himself before he face-planted into the tile.

"Watch your step, Danielle. Psh, girls these days!" Dash and Kwan left, laughing their heads off as if Dash had told the funniest joke in the world. Danny muttered an insult after them under his breath but quickly turned his attention to Tucker.

"Is Jenny alright?" Danny asked, using the name he thought Tucker had assigned to the gadget.

"Her name is Madoka, and she is perfectly alright." He replied indignantly.

"Madoka? Where'd you get that from?" The easy conversation continued as Danny and Tucker started their way towards the cafeteria.

"An anime, if you need to know," Tucker said as he stuck his phone-PDA into his pocket.

"Weeb," Danny teased.

"Hey! You watched Sword Art Online at my house and I know you liked it." Tucker pointed out.

"It had magic and swords and stuff like that, how could I not like it?"

"Not like what?" Without even realizing it, Danny had Tucker had gotten to the cafeteria. Sam was sitting at the table and had asked the question. The boys sat down in the same seats they'd sat in for forever.

"One of the animes Tucker showed me. I called him a weeb."

"And I pointed out that he actually liked the one I showed him," Tucker argued.

"What anime?" Sam inquired.

"Sword Art Online," Tucker said as he took out his lunch. Sam turned up her nose at his roast beef sandwich and beef jerky but didn't comment. Danny was glad for that, he didn't feel like playing mediator again today.

"I've seen the first season. It's like the go-to first anime." Sam got out her own lunch of a salad with a few fruits on the side. Danny's own lunch was just a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, an apple, a Pepsi, and a bag of chips. Tucker eyed Danny's drink and the halfa shook his head to say that Tuck couldn't have it

"Wait, you watch anime?" Tucker sounded dubious.

"Do you know how gothic some of them are? And they're still not mainstream enough to not be cool anymore. Haven't you ever seen-" Danny tuned out the conversation for the time. Sam and Tucker could banter on like that for a year, and as long as he added something to the conversation every so often it didn't much matter. In fact, they probably wouldn't look for him to make any input. But he didn't mind. Lunch was kind of his time to relax to himself, and for him relaxing included staying to himself and hoping that no ghosts showed up. They seemed to have learned his schedule and almost always picked his lunch period to make trouble. WHich was good, but it often meant he had to skip eating and things like that. Jazz still said he looked too skinny for her liking, even though he hadn't had to skip dinner in the past month. Lunch was a different story, but he was used to skipping.

"-Danny?" Snapping fingers in front of his face brought Danny out of his thoughts and he traced the gesture back to Sam.  
"You okay?" She asked.

"Yeah!" Danny straightened.  
"Just thinking." He opened the baggie his chips were in and munched on a few.

"Well, we were planning what all we're gonna do for Dora's party later."

"What needs planning?" Dora had invited them all, and Danny was just planning on taking the Spectre Speeder. His parents had been distracted from their inventions lately, partly because of him, and he figured they wouldn't notice the thing gone. After all, it pretty much always just sat in the weapon's vault since it took up so much space.

"Well, I know we were planning on taking the Spectre Speeder, but where are we going to park it? Dora doesn't exactly have a parking lot. And people might try to mess with it. I was thinking maybe it'd be better if we all fly there, at least if you don't mind." Sam and Tucker couldn't fly on their own in the GZ, but if they each held one of Danny's hands they could fly with him. It'd just be kinda awkward to hold hands like that for the half-hour or so it took to fly to Dora's kingdom. Though Sam had a point that the Speeder wasn't likely to be left alone, and he wouldn't have to dig it out of the vault. Hmm, awkwardness or work?

"You have a point, and it's fine with me if it's good with you guys."

"Shur," Tucker confirmed through the sandwich in his mouth, which earned a heavy eye-roll from the resident goth.

"Then it's decided. What time do you think we should get to your house?" Sam added.

"Well, it starts at seven until nine. Maybe about six or so, that way you guys have time to get ready before we need to leave. We're all going over to your house afterwards, right?" The last question was aimed toward Tucker, who nodded in confirmation.

"My parents think I'm just heading over there early," Sam said. They needed alibis for the time they'd be gone, after all.

"Mine think the same." They'd been more than happy to hear that Danny would be out of the house, though he could tell they were trying to hide it. Jazz would be staying at one of her friend's houses as well, so they'd have the house to themselves. He did not want to know what they were planning.

"I told my parents that I'm going over to Danny's house to help you pack stuff up and play Doomed for a bit," Tucker said lastly.

"Sounds like we're all set." Sam gave a thumbs up and went back to her lunch.

```````````````````````

The trio left the school amid a literal flood of students. Jazz had planned on driving straight over to her friend's house, but she'd offered to take Danny home anyways. But he wanted to walk with Sam and Tuck. It felt like they hadn't hung out in forever. They were pushed along with the crowd until it dispersed at the edge of the stairs. Everyone who wasn't riding a bus was rushing out the front door. Those who weren't headed for the parking lot were starting off down the sidewalk in some direction, and there were a lot of happy yells. A festive feeling permeated the area, and not only because they'd all just gotten out of school for Christmas break.

With a shock, Danny noticed that it was snowing! There wasn't much snow on the ground, and what had stuck didn't stay there for long. There was just barely enough to cover the grass. None of that stopped the outbreak of snowballs flying through the air, however. Chunks of ice, along with snowballs, were being hurled in every direction with returning fire filled the air. Suddenly something cold smashed into the back of Danny's head and he whipped around to see Sam with her black mittens on preparing another snowball.

"Sam! Don't you dare!" Danny ruffled his own hair to get the snow out of it, and some had even gone down his shirt. Sam only made a wicked grin in return, before she was smacked in the shoulder with a snowball. She and Danny looked around to see Tucker already booking it down the stairs, snickering all the way.

"I'll get you for that Tucker!" Sam chased after Tucker and Danny followed suit. The crowd quickly dispersed and he had a clear shot. He glanced around for a second for anyone looking in his direction and didn't see anyone even notice him running. With a grin of his own, he formed a snowball in his hands with his ice powers and chucked it at Sam. She screeched as it hit her in the back of the head and almost knocked her beanie off. Meeting Sam's gaze and still grinning ear to ear, Danny formed another snowball. It was even easier to do than normal since he wasn't wearing any gloves.

"No fair, Danny!" Sam yelled but ducked almost as soon as she said it as Danny's snowball went flying over her head. It smacked Tucker right in the face because he had stopped to see what was happening.

"You got my glasses wet!" He complained. He took them off and unzipped his coat to use his shirt to wipe them off. Danny was distracted by Tucker and was shocked when a snowball smacked him in the chest.

"Sam, duck!" Sam did as Tucker had said and his snowball knocked the one Danny was forming out of his hands.

"Team?" Sam asked, looking back at Tucker.

"Sure," Tucker shrugged, just as Danny launched another ball of snow in his direction. He'd packed that one especially hard, and it smacked into Tucker's coat. The geek used a gloved hand to wipe away the snow.

"Oh, now it's on." Tucker dashed behind a house that had been coming up and Danny knew he'd be making more ammunition. Sam followed after Tucker in a moment and Danny gave his friends a ten-second head start before following after them.

Sam and Tucker were no longer behind the house, but Danny could see where the snow had been disturbed. Two sets of footsteps lead all the way around the house. Danny's sneakers crunched in the snow as he followed the prints.

"Run, Tuck!" Danny went all the way around the white house -ducking under any windows- and saw Sam and Tucker booking it down the sidewalk. Tucker was carrying an armful of snowballs and dropped one almost every step. Sam had a grip on his hood and was pulling him down the sidewalk. Danny broke into a sprint with a laugh and followed them. The cold air hitting his face felt awesome, and Danny had a sudden urge to fly. But that would have to wait. He had some friends to catch and revenge to get!

An idea popped into his head, and Danny took a quick glance around the deserted street. Luckily, there was no one around. He shot a hand out and a mass of snow formed right above and in front of Sam and Tucker. They didn't notice in time and the mound of snow fell right on top of their heads. They were stopped in their tracks and Danny was able to catch up to them.

Sam was just picking herself out of the snow when he got there. She was trying to get the snow off of her clothes, but it was all over her. It was up to her knees, after all, and he could see as he'd run that she'd been knocked down by the snow. Danny could see just Tucker's feet sticking out of the top of the snow and grabbed one of them to pull his friend out of the mess. How he got upside down like that, Danny had no idea. The halfa couldn't help but chuckle when he pulled Tucker out and the first thing he did was try in vain to get the snow off of his glasses

"Just for that," Tucker said as he wiped more snow off of himself.  
"Your new nickname is Elsa," Tucker said, pointing straight at Danny.

"Don't you dare! I will dump snow on your bed later!"

"Oh c'mon dude, let it go," Tucker smiled like an idiot, looking at Danny expectantly.

"I guess you do want snow on your bed later. I wonder if a pie of snow would look good in your dresser."

"Don't you dare!" Tucker's voice cracked.

"Guys, stop fighting," Sam interjected. It earned her two glares.  
"The important thing here is," She turned to face Danny as she righted her purple beanie.  
"You're a cheater." The goth crossed her arms.

"All's fair in love and war," Danny replied.  
"And snowball fights are definitely war."

"This is true," Tucker added as he finally got to his feet.

"See?" Danny said. Sam didn't seem impressed.

`````````````````````````````````````````

Danny was lying on his bed reading an article on an undiscovered planet when he heard something hit his window with a dull thud. He glanced over the see a bunch of snow plastered to the outside. He got to his feet and opened the window, not at all surprised to see Sam down on the sidewalk preparing another snowball.

"You'd better not be planning to hit me with that!" Danny yelled from his second-Story window. Sam glanced up from where she'd been packing another ball of snow and grinned.

"I would never dream of it," She dropped the half-formed ball to the grown and let herself right in. It had been many years since Sam was a "guest" to the Fenton house. She and Tucker had pretty much been in the family for years. Danny smiled at the thought of younger Sam with her pigtails and a pink dress covered in mud. They'd gone to the park and Tucker dared Sam to jump in the little creek in the small bit of woods the park had. She'd accepted the bet, of course, and her feet sank all the way in. Danny had handed her a stick to try and get her out, but when she started crying Tuck ran off to get her parents. They were horrified, and Sam had giggled her head off at their expressions once the ordeal was over.

Danny closed his window when he saw her disappear from sight -slightly saddened at the loss of the breeze, and went out into the hallway. He could hear Sam kicking off her snow boots and coming up the stairs. Danny followed her into his room and Sam dropped her coat on the back of his desk chair before sitting down. Danny's room was surprisingly clean at the moment, though that was pretty much only because he really wanted Doomed 2 for Christmas and needed to get on his parents' good side somehow. He still came home late most of the time, even though he hadn't had to in the last week or so. Christmas was turning out to be pretty good this year. He only hoped it would stay that way.

"Looks good in here, Danny. I don't think I've seen the floor since fifth grade." Sam jabbed.

"It wasn't that bad." He countered.

"One time I woke up from a sleepover to find a sock stuck to the floor beside your bed. Literally, like there must've been glue on it or something."

"His room has been pretty terrible." Danny almost leapt out of his skin when he heard Tucker's voice.

"Don't scare me like that! When did you even come in!?" Danny yeeted his pillow at Tucker, hitting him right in the face.

"Like you can talk," Sam snorted. Tucker ignored Danny and the halfa's racing heart, plopping down on the bed -with snow still all over his coat- before replying to Sam.

"Those mouldy pizza slices were a statement."

"Yeah, a statement of how gross your guys' rooms are."

Tucker didn't get to reply because Danny shoved him off the bed and Tucker rolled off the end, barely managing to catch himself. He banged his nose on the ground and sat up, rubbing it.

"Assault! That's best friend assault! I'll tell Walker on you!"

"Oh no, I'm so scared," Danny said sarcastically.

"Well," Sam said, getting to her feet. She held a bookbag in her hand.  
"I'm taking over your bathroom to get ready."

"Okay, you know where it is."

"It'd be a miracle if I didn't at this point." Her voice was muffled as she shut the bathroom door.

"I bet you she'll take at least the entire half-hour to get ready."

"I bet she'll take even longer and we'll be late." Danny countered. Sam was only ever girly at all when she was willingly dressing up to go somewhere. After all, when Sam got something in her head she put all of her efforts into it. She was passionate like that.

"Deal." Tucker grinned, and they shook hands.

````````````````````````````````````````````

Tucker made a face as he handed Danny a five-dollar bill.

"Told ya so." Danny grinned. The clock said 5:35 and Sam still hadn't come out of the bathroom. Tucker didn't reply at first, instead just looking sullen where he was still sitting at the foot of Danny's bed. He just hadn't bothered to get up yet.

"We probably need to get ready," Tucker said, standing up and going over to get his bag. He got out a t-shirt and put it on right over the one he was wearing. He turned around to show Danny his shirt and the halfa facepalmed. Tucker had seriously brought one of those t-shirts with a tux printed on it. And it looked stupid with his yellow long-sleeved shirt visible underneath.

"Really? We're going to a party in a ballroom in a castle and you're wearing a fake suit?" Danny told it how it was. Though his planned outfit wasn't exactly high-fashion, Tuck was just hitting a new low.

"Well, I figured the ladies in Dora's kingdom haven't seen anything like this before. They'll think it's neat!" Tucker tried to defend it, but it was a weak argument.

"I don't think that I will ever understand how your brain works when it comes to girls," Danny said, shaking his head.

"Well, it's not like your outfit will be any better. Are you even going to change?"

"Of course I am! I'm not gonna wear an old t-shirt and jeans to Dora's party. I'm just debating if I should go in ghost form or not." He hadn't ever really tried wearing anything other than his suit in ghost form, and he was about half curious what would happen to it if he took it off. Would it replace whatever clothes he put on if he changed back? It would make sense for clothes to work the same as his backpack, but he just wasn't sure.

"If you want to, man. It doesn't really make any difference to me." Tucker shrugged.

"Well, either way, You need to go so I can get changed."

"I'll be raiding your kitchen, just so you know." Tucker said as he stood up and went to the door.

"Just don't eat my Dad's fudge!" Danny yelled after him. Tucker gave him a thumbs up and closed the door. As Danny heard Tuck going down the stairs, he got up to lock the door and changed into ghost form. It'd been a long time since he'd said "goin' ghost" as he transformed, and whenever he thought about it he cringed.

It was a bit weird to be in his bedroom in ghost form. Usually, he only did that before going somewhere. It was going to be even weirder taking off his suit. Danny sat on the bed, sinking down a foot or so from where he'd started flying. He started with the gloves, pulling them off with a bit of difficulty. They came off and it was odd to see his skin so much tanner than normal. He'd heard his skin was more tan, but he never really noticed since he never saw his own face. The gloves glowed on their own when Danny set them off to the side. They were obviously ghostly so Danny would have to make sure to hide his suit well. Next, he removed the boots. They glowed as well and Danny was a bit surprised he had socks on underneath them. In a sudden memory, he remembered when he put the suit on in the first place… before the accident. He'd just put it on over his clothes. He wondered, were they still under his suit?

Danny yanked on the zipper at his neck but it got stuck and yanked on his skin. He had to unzip it slowly, even though he was anxious to find out. He did need to move quickly, though. They needed to live in a few minutes or they'd be really late. Danny unzipped the suit to his waist and was only half surprised to see a shirt underneath. It was just like the red and white one he had with the oval, but it had turned black and blue. He shrugged off the top of the suit and pulled his arms through before rising up into the air a bit to make an attempt at pulling the pants off. He managed it and kicked off the suit. Yeah, all of his clothes were still there. They were a bit small, actually. Though so were his normal ones. It made him wonder if he'd grow out of his suit and have to wear something else. Eventually, he decided.

Danny floated idly over to his closet and picked through the shirts to find the one he was looking for. He found a shirt that his parents had gotten him last Christmas. It was red with a cartoon Christmas tree printed on the front of it. He also got a green long-sleeved shirt to put underneath it. He also grabbed his only pair of skinny jeans, which were black. Then his trusty red high-tops and that was it. It only a minute or two to get dressed, and Danny heard a knock on the door just as he was tying his shoes.

"Danny? Are you ready?" Came Sam's voice through the wood.

"Yep," Danny said, finishing off the knot and going to get the door. He opened it and saw what Sam was wearing.

She had on a long-sleeved dark green velvet dress, with a pair of dark red leggings. She was still wearing her combat boots, of course. It looked like she had put on makeup as well, and her lips were a dark red to match tights and her black bangs were pinned to the side with a red clip.

"You look nice," Danny said.

"Well, thank-you. We probably need to head out, how are you gonna get your parents out of the lab?" Sam asked. Danny took a step back and she followed him into his room.

"I'm gonna tell them Tucker saw a ghost at the school on his way over here. Most likely they'll run over as fast as they can and we can go through. I'll just go invisible and check through the portal when we come back and probably call them to say I saw another ghost to get them out of the lab if it comes to it." He looked around his room and decided to just phase his suit and the clothes he'd had underneath it into the wall between his room and Jazz's. If his Dad went around practising intangibility around the house it wasn't likely he'd go through that wall, so it seemed like a safe bet.

"Why don't you just take us down there invisible? Then you don't have to mess with all that." Sam reasoned. He couldn't really tell her why, could he? She didn't know that his Dad has a ghost sense, and he sure wasn't going to tell her. But they did have inventions that could let them know he's there too.

"What if one of their inventions goes off when we're around? It's better to play it safe." He supplied. It wasn't technically a lie. He didn't like not telling her, Jazz, and Tucker the truth, but he was loyal to his parents too. Besides, what they didn't know couldn't hurt them.

"Well, you should probably go now, we'll be late."

"And just whose fault is that?" Danny asked with a smirk as he walked past Sam into the hallway and reverted to human form. He glanced down and saw his normal clothes and decided that his theory had been correct. Sam didn't reply, and Danny just figured that she was glaring at him as he walked down the stairs. They creaked as he went down them, like normal. What wasn't normal, however, was seeing his parents walk up the lab steps. He thought they'd be down there for longer! Danny's gaze darted around, looking for Tucker. They locked eyes when Danny spotted Tucker in the kitchen. They both froze until Mom spoke.

"Hi, Tucker. I didn't know you were here." She greeted. Honestly, she didn't seem all that surprised to see him there. Dad didn't even blink at the sight of Dany's best friend in their kitchen.

"Hi Mrs F! Sorry I didn't let you know, I- I just came to help Danny get his stuff together for coming over." Tucker lied not-so smoothly. But Mom didn't suspect anything of it.

"Yeah, I was just about to head out," Danny added, descending the last few stairs and stepping into the kitchen.

"You should've told us," Mom came over and kissed Danny on the forehead.

"Love you, and have fun," She said as she started towards the stairs. Danny hoped that Sam had heard their voices and was hiding. It'd be harder to explain why she was there too and might make Mom suspicious. Especially since she was all dressed up and even his parents knew that Sam didn't dress up unless it was for something important to her. Dad ruffled Danny's hair as he went past as well, and before he knew it both of his parents were upstairs… and out of the lab.

"Well, I guess you won't have to bait them out of the lab," Tucker whispered.

"Yeah, but now Sam's gonna have to sneak around them to get downstairs," Danny whispered back, hand half-covering his mouth.

"What if we go up there and she copies one of our footsteps or something, so they think it's just us two?" Tucker suggested.

"That's a good idea," Danny replied. They planned for a moment more on just how to do that, but it turned out that wasn't needed as an uneasy Sam descended the stairs. She was looking over her shoulder, but she seemed to have passed by unnoticed.

"Why did you risk coming downstairs? We were coming to get you!" Tucker exclaimed, though he made sure to keep his voice down enough to keep Danny's parents from hearing.

"I just snuck past them," Sam shrugged.  
"They seemed pretty distracted. Why that was I don't know and I don't want to know. We do need to get going, though." Sam said. Danny nodded and Tucker picked his jaw up off the floor and nodded as well. He grabbed his coat that he'd set over the arm of the couch.

"Are both of you ready? Anything else upstairs?" Danny asked.

"All good here," Tucker confirmed.

"Well, I don't need anything. Let's go!" Tucker started walking towards the lab door and the rest of the trio followed after their resident techno-geek. They gathered in front of the portal and Danny hooked an arm around Tucker and Sam. His left went under Sam's right shoulder and her right arm went around his neck. Tucker's left arm was around Danny's waist and the halfa's right arm went around Tucker's waist, same as Sam.

"Here's liftoff," Danny said and lifted up a foot or so into the air. Sam's arm dug into his neck and he was sure Tucker was about to fall. But neither of them let go and Danny moved slowly the last meter or so into the portal.

Danny shivered as he passed through the rippling surface of the portal. It was like he'd clipped through something in a video game. Without any preamble, the lab fell away and an entire universe seemingly popped into existence at Danny's feet. He looked up with a sense of child-like wonder and was amazed that the portal frame was hanging in midair. He'd probably been through the portal at least fifteen times but the feeling just never got old. Seeing an entire dimension he hadn't known existed for fourteen years of his life was astonishing. It was like flying, he'd never get used to the feeling. However, it did fade after a moment and Danny took himself out of his head.

Both Sam and Tucker had grabbed his hands with their opposite ones. They could float on their own in the ghost zone, but it wouldn't be a good experience. It would be like they were stuck in space without any way to get back to their spaceship. They'd spin around and wouldn't be able to change their direction without grabbing onto something floating around the ghost zone. Danny was a bit like their spaceship, only if one of them let go he'd go after them.

The Ghost Zone was actually a lot like space, now that Danny thought about it. It might not have any planets, but it did have all of the islands floating around, which were kind of like planets. And doors were littering the sky, like stars. If one looked far enough out into the ghost zone, they would only see swirling greens, like the surface of the ghost portal except less… circular. It was a bit like fog, but green. There wasn't gravity either and the islands floating around took full advantage of the fact. Some of them were at really weird angles, with water somehow flowing in relation to however the island was situated. Each plot of land seemed to have its own gravity, and Danny didn't even want to start getting into the implications of that. So he left well enough alone and, with his best friends at his side, the half-ghost sped off into the ghost zone.


End file.
